Bill Kirchen
Word To The Wise
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This renowned guitarist, who has had such appellations attached to his name as Titan of the Telecaster to live up to, doesn’t disappoint here at all. He is joined on this raucous and honky-tonking disc by a very tight band of friends and joined by some all-star vocalists he has worked with through the years whose work he admires, and yet it is his guitar that stands in ones’ memory. It stays there because of the way he manages the sounds/moods/landscapes/colors that come out of it, without ever having to really crank it up. Though the guitar playing is rollicking and boisterous it is never out of control and overpowering, it allows the touch in the songs to come through without diminishing the raucous nature of his music.
Though he first came to prominence with Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, he has moved on and broadened his horizon while still maintaining touch with his early cohorts; the Commander (AKA George Frayne), as well as Blackie Farrell are on this disc. Also contributing are Norton Buffalo,
Dan Hicks, Maria Muldaur, Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, and Chris O’Connell to name but a few of the others that contribute. The music is those oversized portions of Rock and Roll, Country, Western Swing, Boogie-Woogie, and Rockabilly; maybe it is just easier to say Americana. This is one of those discs that with repeated listening reveals the multiple levels at which this disc is a gem; it is great music for putting the top down and just cruising down the road, or for listening to a fantastic master of the Telecaster as he shows off the 40 plus years he has spent honing his craft and putting his name on a level with those better known guitar gods of the universe.