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hillbilly boogie

Rockin’ Bonnie Western Bound Combo

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rockin' bonnie

Rockin’ Bonnie Western Bound Combo – Keepin’ The Reins Slack

Bullseye – BE 149 [2021]
A Full Time Job – I Gotta Know – I’ll Get Along Somehow – Get With it – Hell Ride Boogie – I’m Getting Wrong – South / Loss – Sure Fire Kisses – Somebody’s Gonna Take Your Place – Serenade In G – Let’s Settle Down – The Side Of Town

Rockin’ Bonnie Western Bound Combo

Friends, if you dig Hillbilly, Honky-Tonk, Country-Boogie and Western swing, stop all your activities; I have something special for you: Rockin’ Bonnie Western Bound Combo’s latest album. This five-piece band is one of the best things to happen to true country lovers in ages. They come from Italy, but they nailed that sound so perfectly that you wouldn’t believe it.
Rockin’ Bonnie sings lead on most of the tracks. The main quality of her voice is something that, surprisingly, you don’t often find: simplicity. She doesn’t try to sound mean or hide behind mannerisms. She simply sings with her heart in a joyful way. How refreshing!
Max sings lead on Bob Wills’ Get With It and Loss, a self-penned track written with George Jones’ The Race Is On in mind. He also shares some duets with Bonnie and most of all, plays a mighty hot guitar and trades licks with Matt, the band’s secret weapon, who plays fiddle, steel, banjo and mandolin. Bobby and Manuel bring the swing and the drive.
The set comprises covers (Eddie Arnold, Bob Wills, Ernest Tubb, Merle Travis, Goldie Hill…) and originals.
Now, roll back the rug and dance to the sweet sound of Rockin’ Bonnie Western Bound Combo!

Available here.

Rockin’ Bonnie Western Bound Combo  – Loud and Proud

El Toro [2016]
Loud and Proud – There AIn’t Better Time – Once More – Don’t Worry

Rockin’Bonnie Western Bound Combo
Rockin’Bonnie Western Bound Combo

This excellent ep opens with the band’s own Loud and Proud. It’s a solid western swing tune with duet vocals between Bonnie and lead guitarist Max Zampini in the great Bob Wills tradition with steel, fiddle, lead guitar. Next Is a cover of Tibby Edwards sung by Zampini and features – like the other two songs of B-side – a piano.
Once More is another original that already sounds like a classic hillbilly. Last but not least is a superb slice of hillbilly boogie with Red Sovine’s Don’t Worry

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight!

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Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight! – From the Vaults of Decca and Coral Records

Gonna shake this shack tonight

Bear Family BCD17602 [2020]
Jimmy Atkins & His Pinetoppers – I’m A Ding Dong Daddy (From Dumas) / T. Texas Tyler – Hot Rod Rag / Tabby West – Chat Chat Chattanooga / Lonnie Glosson – Pan American Boogie / Tex Williams – Big Bear Boogie / Autry Inman – Happy Go Lucky / Grandpa Jones – Eight More Miles To Louisville / Roy Duke – I Mean I’m Mean / Hank Penny – Bloodshot Eyes / Tabby West – Texas Millionaire / Hardrock Gunter / Texas Bill Strength – Paper Boy Boogie / Gene Stewart – Empty Seat In The Bar Room Booth / Rusty Keefer – I’m Just Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail / Tex Williams – Rancho Boogie / Jimmie Davis – Cherokee Boogie (Eh-Oh-Aleena) / Tommy Sosebee – All Night Boogie / Kenny Roberts – I’m Looking For The Bully Of The Town / Hardrock Gunter – Honky Tonk Baby / Chuck Murphy – Blue Ribbon Boogie / Hank Garland – Guitar Shuffle / Tabby West – Inchin’ Up / Grady Martin – Long John Boogie / Tommy Sosebee – The Barber Shop Boogie / Hardrock Gunter – You Played On My Piano / Jimmy Atkins & His Pinetoppers – Juke Joint Johnny / Tabby West – Pretty Little Dedon / Arlie Duff – Courtin’ In The Rain / Wayne Raney – 40th And Plum / Roberta Lee & Hardrock Gunter – Sixty Minute Man

Jimmy Atkins cut a superb double-sider for Coral. Without surprise, Ding Dong Daddy is a hot western swing while Juke Joint Johnny is an excellent hillbilly boogie with searing solos, including twin guitars.
Tabby West is a very versatile singer. As said in the liner, her voice could appeal to both rural and urban audiences. Despite a bunch of excellent recordings, she never made it big. Pretty Little Dedon has a bit of a Cajun flair, Texas Millionaire is pure hillbilly with fiddle and also features a hot guitar solo by Hank Garland, while Chat Chat Chattanooga is a swinging country bopper that showcases her clear diction. Inchin’ Up is more average, but the guitar break from Chet Atkins is worth mentioning.
The Delmore Brothers’ Pan American Boogie sounds like the epitome of the Hillbily Boogie genre. Lonnie Glosson’s version, on which the Delmore Brothers and Wayne Raney back him, doesn’t differ much from the original.
Tex Williams is, with Jimmie Davis, probably one of the best-known figures on this compilation and needs no introduction. Big Bear Boogie is a pleasant though dispensable novelty tune. The best being the scorching country boogie instrumental Rancho Boogie, featuring accordion, twin fiddles, steel-guitar, and piano. You’ll also find Wayne Raney on this compilation performing an excellent Hillbilly number.
At the exact opposite of Williams’ laid-back croon are Autry Inman and his nasal voice. His Happy Go Lucky is a superb country bopper.
Grandpa Jones was neither a grandpa nor a genuine hillbilly. It doesn’t prevent his Eight More Miles to Louisville to be a joyful and fast hillbilly tune.
Roy Duke’s I Mean I’m Mean is one of the highlights of this compilation. His vocal sounds like Ernest Tubb singing the blues while the backing is closer to Rockabilly as it can get, thanks to Hank Garland on guitar.
Talking about highlights, you’ll find nothing less than four Hardrock Gunter’s songs, including Sixty Minute Man in duet with Roberta Lee. In case you wouldn’t know him, Gunter played a brand of Country Boogie, influenced by Western Swing, especially by his idol Hank Penny (who is present here with his classic Bloodshot Eyes.)
Not much to say about Texas Bill Strength, except that the song is good, his voice is good, and the playing is equally good!
Gene Stewart was the brother of Redd Stewart of Pee Wee King’s Golden West Cowboys, for which he also played bass. Not sure if the Golden West Cowboys back him on Empty Seat In The Bar Room Booth, but the song is a hot swinging country boogie.
Rusty Keefer’s name might right a bell to Bill Haley’s fans. He wrote or co-wrote songs like The Walking Beat, R.O.C.K, or Rockin’ Through The Rye. I’m Just Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail falls halfway between Bluegrass and electric Honky Tonk.
Tommy Sosebee’s All Night Boogie, reminiscent of Oakie Boogie, is just average, while The Barber Shop Boogie seems more inspired by Chattanooga Shoeshine Boy.
If you’re looking for some uptempo hillbilly, I’m Looking For The Bully Of The Town by Kenny Roberts is what you need. Blue Ribbon Boogie is a solid boogie-woogie performed by Chuck Murphy and his piano.
Two great guitar player, Hank Garland and Grady Martin have their solo spots. Guitar Shuffle is an excuse to showcase Garland’s prowess on guitar (and it works), whereas Grady Martin’s Long John Boogie is more sophisticated, even pop-tinged, and features a saxophone.
Courtin In the Rain is a mostly spoken hillbilly by Arlie Duff in the rural comic tradition.
All in all, despite one or two less inspired tunes, you have a solid slab of Hillbilly and Country Boogie, with hints of Western Swing. Don’t miss it.

Available here

Fred ‘Virgil’ Turgis


Rusti Steel

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Rusti Steel & the Startones - Gone With The Wind

Rusti Steel & the Startones - Gone With The Wind
Rusti Steel & the Startones – Gone With The Wind

Rusti Steel & the Startones – Gone With The Wind

Western Star Records WSRC 041 [2010]
Gone With The Wind – Gone With The Wind – Missing You Blues – Can’t Go Out – Hopin’ For The Best – Baby You Doin’ Me Wrong – A Lovers Question – Lucky Guy – Speed Crazy Baby – Slow Down Suzie – I’ll Do Anything For You – Please Baby Please Be Mine – Whirl – Share Your Life With Me – Wedding Bells Ring – I Can’t Hide

Rusti Steel & the Startone are a rockabilly country boogie band featuring guitar, bass, drums, pumpin’ piano and occasionnal steel guitar. Rusti is not really a newcomer having released rockin’ albums since the mid 80’s. And though it sounds a bit cliche, I have to say that Gone With The Wind is by far his best. With 15 songs and only one cover it’s a killer.

It opens with the Bill Haley & the Saddlemen sound of the title track: propulsive beat on the bass and drums, powerful piano and agressive steel guitar. Next is Missin’ You Blues that owes more to Elvis circa 1956, with Alan Wilson providing back up vocals for a full Jordanaires effect. Double bass player Stewart Dale wrote the Burnette inspired Can’t Go Out, a perfect number though I waited until the end, hoping to hear at least of them scream. The country boogie of Hopin’ For The Best is the good occasion to put the piano to the front. But no time to loose and back to good ol’ rockabilly ala Baby Let’s Play House with Baby You Doin’ Me Wrong followed by the sole cover of the album: Clyde McPhatter’s Lover’s Question.Lucky Guy is a piano led rockabilly with a Danny Cedrone solo in the middle. Speed Crazy Baby is halway between Just Because and Maybellene. Stewart Dale sings Slow Down suzie his second contribution to the album and a good rocker. After a couple more rockabilly numbers the album closes on a high note with I Can’t Hide, a mean rockin’ numbers ala Gene Maltais’Raging Sea.It’s a western Star release so expect top notch production and recording work and special mention to Chris Wilkinson (Bonneville Barons) for the superbly designed cover and booklet.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Country Cattin

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Country Cattin’ - Movin’ On
Country Cattin’ – Movin’ On

Country Cattin – Movin’ On

Cool & Crazy Record s CD005
Call Me Lonesome – Honky Tonk Girl – Hangmans Boogie – See You in My Dreams – Pinball Millionaire – I Got a Problem – Blue Days Black Nights – Hocus Pocus – I Believe in Love – Convicted – Dear John – If Your Ever Lonely – Blues Come Around – Mobilin’ Baby – Just Because – Movin’ On
With this album Country Cattin’ can stand proudly next to The Riverside Trio or The Rimshots, who were, in my humble opinion, two of the best. Hillbilly boogie, honky tonk with a bit of rockabilly, what more could you ask for? Dave Brown’s voice is excellent (it sometimes reminds me Johnny Horton), Johnny Vee’s guitar skills are also amazing. From rockabilly licks to Chet Atkin’s (I’ll see you in my dreams), he knows them all! Don’t forget the slap bass which is the backbone of the band as they are drumless and the “newest” member Chris Cummings (from the Riverside Trio) on steel guitar. He also recorded this album at his Riverside Studios. A very good album that I warmly recommend, despite the cover design I’m not too keen on.
Fred “Virgil” Turgis

The Western Aces – Introducing…

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westernaces_small El Toro 3021
Ice Cold Water -Same Old Cell – Drinkin’ Man’s Boogie – Seeing Double – Tell Me Why (we Can’t Be In Love) – Leave That Junk Alone -Hep Cat Baby -Four Walls And A Table – Oh Boy – Mean Mean Mama – Old ’32 – I Was There When It Happened.
This is the debut album for this British band, but Phil (Tennessee Rhythm Riders) and Mark (The Ricardo’s) are now well known characters on the scene, and brothers Gordon and Dave Doel were in the Young Savages. With a sound as authentic as you can get, a set of solid originals you’d swear they come from an old 78’s, and well choosen covers (Glenn Barber, Merle Kilgore, Johnny Cash), they offer a solid and highly enjoyable mix of hillbilly, rockabilly, boogie and western swing. Supported by a tight rhythm section, the guitar and the steel shine throughout. Another strong point is that, not only three of them can write songs, but the same three (Dave Doel, Gordon Doel, Phil Morgan) sing which gives to this album a welcome diversity. This is their first, let’s hope it won’t be the last cause this guys have a lot to offer to anyone who has good taste in music!
Fred “Virgil” Turgis
PS – See also the Doel Brothers

Fia Sco & the Majestics – You’re My Sugar

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fia-sco-and-the-majesticsRhythm Bomb Records – RBR 5753
Hey Mister Cotton Picker – The Donkey Song – Dynamite – Shes Gone Gone Gone – Poison – Ice Cold Baby – Misses Whiz – Crawdad Song – Sag, Drag and Fall – Youre My Sugar – Catty Town – Snatch It And Grab It

This quintet comes from Austria. They are Fia Sco (lead vocals), Colonel Rib Kirby (guitar), Big Honzo (steel), Don DeVil (upright bass and he also did the artwork)  and Ray Hummer (drums).
This album is a fine piece of hillbilly boogie with elements of late western swing and pre-rock’n’roll (think Bill Haley’s Saddlemen). The band penned one third of the songs that easily find their place among the covers of Glenn Barber, Terry Fell, Freddy Hart, Sid King, Jerry Reed, Lefty Frizzell…
The young lady has a very good and powerful voice that evokes in her approach the great Rose Maddox (you sometime surprise yourself to expect a laugh here and there). The band is equally good, the two solists trade hot licks with an evident pleasure and the fun they have can be heard throughout the disc, while the rhythm section is just perfect, a special “howdy” to Don DeVil whose swingin’ bass brings a lot to the combo.
If you like the Maddox Brothers and Rose or modern artists like Lynette Morgan you won’t be disapointed with Fia Sco and the Majestics.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis