Bonneville Barons (the) – Cure What Ails You
Western Star Records – WSRC036
Pretty Penny – Long Distance Baby – Heart O Mine – Family Tree Rag – Forget Me – Broken Man – Wait For Me – Fool For You – Whale Tail – Beautiful Memory Of Mine – Unlucky Blues – Mexican Wildfire – Birmingham Jail
One of today’s best and most original band returns with a 13 track killer album. It kicks off with “Pretty Penny”, written like the other 12 songs by Chris Wilkinson; a great jazzabilly number with clever lyrics that could come from the pen of Sage Guyton. “Unlucky Blues” comes in a similar vein. “Long Distance Baby” sees the dynamic duo with a fiddle for a full western flavour and features nice yodel too. “Heart Of Mine” can be described as Buddy Holly meets the Hot Club Of Cowtown. Yann’s powerful slap bass has nothing to envy to Jake Erwin or Kevin Smith. “Family Tree Rag” is a bith smoother and features a nice Merle Travis guitar part. Mark Kemlo of Rimshots and Bill Fadden fame guests on drums on “Forget Me” a wild rockabilly number with pounding drums, heavy guitar and distorted voice. Woa ! Kemlo is also present on the powerful rockin’ Mariachi instrumental “Mexican Wildfire” with trumpet. “Broken Man” is another occasion to hear the way their voices and instruments perfectly blend together. “Wait For Me”, a slow and mellow number with sparse backing is another side of Wilkinson’s talent as a songwriter and a singer. “Birmingham Jail” is in the same style, but the song sounds like a XVIIIth century traditionnal tune. “Fool For You” is pure Boneville Barons style : solid slap bass, catchy melody, good guitar riff and fine vocals.
The production work is fantastic : clean but not sterile, and the booklet, that includes the lyrics, is very well designed. The result is a must have record in a beautiful object.
Fred “Virgil” Turgis
