Rick Shea and Patty Booker have both been fixtures on the southern California country and roots rock scenes since the 1980s. With Our Shangri-LA they've teamed up to produce a new album of classic California country. It's a hard-core blend of originals and covers that touches all the stylistic bases, from druggy folk-rock to cornpone trucker humor, backed by a top-notch band.
Shea, himself an in-demand session guitarist whose highest-profile gig has been backing fellow Californian Dave Alvin, brings his deep sexy drawl to the table, where it's matched by Booker's husky twang. They're best when they're singing together, as on Shea's slow, sexy "I'm No Good Without You," where they rub the rough spots off each other's voices. The high point is the chorus on Shea's "Just a Matter of Time," a lively two-step that just grabs you by the lapels and drags you onto the dance floor.
"Fewer Things All the Time," with its prominent acoustic guitar and accents of pedal steel and accordion, calls to mind Marty Robbins. Credit for the slow swing of the country lounge number "Fat Daddy" goes to Shea and pianist Wyman Reese; this one's right out of a mid-70s B movie, with lines like "I give her what she wants/she gives me what I need/Not a bad arrangement/you'd have to agree." And "Baby That Ain't True," co-written by Booker and Shea, echoes numerous lover's spat songs, with her accusing him of carrying on with her best friend, and him denying it not very convincingly.
Speaking of the '70s, "The Bull and the Beaver" is a throwback to the days of corny CB-radio songs, this one by Merle Haggard and Leona Williams. Whether it's good ribald fun or just plain bad taste is in the ear of the beholder. And this duo's cover of the Lee Hazlewood-Nancy Sinatra classic "Strawberry Wine" doesn't quite hold up to the original. But all is forgiven after the delightful tear-in-your-beer tracks like Booker's "I Know It's Wrong (But I Just Can't Get it Right)" and Shea's "The House That We Once Lived In," not to mention the grand concept of the title track, a perky portrait of a blue-collar love nest.
If you thought nobody was making Bakersfield-style honky-tonk music any more, guess again. Rick Shea and Patty Booker and their superb backing band will take you back to the heydays of the '60s and '70s, when Buck and the Hag were kings and there was a true alternative to the Nashville sound. This one's as real and honest as the day is long.
