NEW ALBUM _WILD! WILD! WILD!_
[https://www.bloodshotrecords.com/album/wild-wild-wild], A
COLLABORATION WITH ROCK-AND-ROLL ROYALTY LINDA GAIL LEWIS, IS COMING
AUGUST 10TH, 2018.
"THE BEST DUO OF OUR TIME." —JERRY LEE LEWIS
_WILD! WILD! WILD!_
, THE NEW COLLABORATION BETWEEN GRAMMY-NOMINATED SINGER-SONGWRITER
ROBBIE FULKS AND ROCK-AND-ROLL ROYALTY LINDA GAIL LEWIS, GLEEFULLY
LIVES UP TO ITS TITLE. IT’S AMERICANA MUSIC THAT’S AS
BUTT-SHAKIN’ AS BEALE STREET, DEEP-ROOTED AS THE GRAND OLE OPRY, AND
HIP AS A TRIP TO THE STRIP. SUBVERSIVE AS IT IS REVERENTIAL, THE ALBUM
JUMPS THE GENRE TRACKS OF NITTY-GRITTY ROCK-AND-ROLL,
COUNTRY-AND-WESTERN, ROCKABILLY, JUMP SWING, AND GOSPEL, LANDING IN A
STRANGE SLICE OF SPACETIME—CALL IT 1954—WHEN ALL THESE WERE ONE
(AND LINDA WAS 7).
ROBBIE FULKS, THE RECORD’S PRODUCER, IS “ONE OF THE MOST OBSERVANT
AND WRY SONGWRITERS OF THE PAST TWO DECADES” (_ROLLING STONE_).
GROUND-ZERO LOUISIANA-BORN ROCKER LINDA GAIL LEWIS IS THE YOUNGER
SISTER AND FREQUENT PERFORMING PARTNER OF JERRY LEE LEWIS, WHOSE PIANO
INNOVATIONS SHE CARRIES FORWARD. HER PRESENT-AT-THE-CREATION CRED
BUOYS THE RECORD WHILE ROBBIE—WHO SINGS, PLAYS, LEADS THE BAND,
WRITES MOST OF THE SONGS, AND ARRANGES THE OTHERS—PROVIDES AN
ANCHORING SENSIBILITY, ONE THAT SAVORS OLD SOUNDS BUT SIDESTEPS
NOSTALGIA. THEIR TWO TALENTS HAVE FASHIONED A RECORD THAT’S URGENT,
HONEST, AND FUN. REMEMBER FUN?
“ROUND TOO LONG,” “BOOGIE-WOOGIE COUNTRY GIRL,” AND THE TITLE
TRACK ALL CRACKLE WITH THE UNMISTAKABLE LEWIS PUMPING PIANO; HERE IS
A FRESH BLAST OF THE ROWDY RELIGIOUS FIRE THAT DEVASTATED POLITE
AMERICA 60 YEARS AGO, DELIVERED WITH GENETIC PRECISION AND POWER.
“IT CAME FROM THE SOUTH”—CO-WRITTEN BY NRBQ’S CLASSIC-ERA
GUITARIST AL ANDERSON AND PLAYED BY ITS CURRENT ONE, SCOTT
LIGON—RECOUNTS THE ORIGIN STORY OF ROCK-AND-ROLL WITH PITHY PHRASES
AND A NEAT BEAT. “MEMPHIS NEVER FALLS FROM STYLE” GROOVES WITH
THREE OF CHICAGO’S FINEST JAZZ ELDERS, NOTABLY ERIC SCHNEIDER, WHO
CUT HIS TEETH IN THE ROAD BANDS OF COUNT BASIE AND EARL HINES, AND
WHOSE SENSATIONAL CLARINET SOLO IS ONE OF THE ALBUM’S HIGHLIGHTS.
“ON THE JERICHO ROAD,” A GOSPEL NOT-QUITE-STANDARD THAT LINDA AND
JERRY LEE SANG TOGETHER AS CHILDREN, IS A SUNDAY SONG THAT SKIPS ALONG
WITH SATURDAY-NIGHT _JOIE DE VIVRE_. “HARDLUCK, LOUISIANA”
RECOUNTS LINDA’S CHILDHOOD AND IS THE MOST ELEGIAC AND REFLECTIVELY
INTENSE PERFORMANCE—BOTH VOCAL AND PIANO—OF HER CAREER.
ROBBIE SINGS LEAD ON “FOOLMAKER,” WHICH IS SATURATED WITH STAX
SOUL. IT BENEFITS MIGHTILY FROM TWO CHICAGO SINGERS, JOAN COLLASO AND
YVONNE GAGE, WHOM HE LEARNED OF NOT THROUGH THEIR DECADES OF
HIGH-VISIBILITY WORK WITH PEOPLE LIKE STEVIE WONDER, ARETHA FRANKLIN,
AND MADONNA, BUT BY SITTING HOME IDLY WATCHING _EMPIRE_. TWO MORE
ROBBIE ORIGINALS, “THAT’S WHY THEY CALL IT TEMPTATION” AND “I
JUST LIVED A COUNTRY SONG,” ARE THE KIND OF WEAPONS-GRADE COUNTRY
NOW FOUND ONLY IN THE SHADOWS OF MUSIC ROW. THE CLASSIC “YOUR RED
WAGON” IS PRESENTED AS A B3-FUELED DASH THROUGH A NAUGAHYDE SUPPER
CLUB. “WHO CARES,” THE DON GIBSON HIT, POSES THE QUESTION, "WHAT
CAN’T THE GREAT MERLE HAGGARD SIDEMAN AND TELECASTER MASTER REDD
VOLKAERT DO ON A 1959 GIBSON L5?" THE ANSWER: STOP PLAYING. (THE
FADEOUT WAS STRICTLY NECESSARY.)
THE CRISP, UNMANIPULATED SOUND OF _WILD! WILD! WILD! _OWES A LOT TO
ALEX HALL, WHO ENGINEERED (FOR INSTANCE, SETTING UP MICS AND MOVING
BAFFLES AS THE GROUP WORKED THROUGH ARRANGEMENT ISSUES) AS WELL AS
DRUMMED (...THEN HITTING “RECORD,” RUNNING ACROSS TWO ROOMS, AND
COUNTING OFF). ALEX IS KNOWN FOR HIS SIMILARLY SHARPENING INFLUENCE
ON RECORDS BY J.D. MCPHERSON, THE FLAT FIVE, POKEY LAFARGE, AND THE
CACTUS BLOSSOMS.
LINDA GAIL LEWIS’S RECORDING CAREER SPANS ALMOST 50 YEARS, LOOSELY
BOOKENDED BY THE PRESENT RECORD AND 1969’S _TOGETHER, _HER DUET
ALBUM WITH JERRY LEE—WITH HER ACCLAIMED SUMMIT WITH VAN MORRISON,
2000’S _YOU WIN AGAIN, _IN THE MIDDLE. ROBBIE HAS MADE 13 SOLO
RECORDS SINCE 1996. HIS LAST ONE, 2016’S _UPLAND STORIES_
[https://www.bloodshotrecords.com/album/upland-stories], DEMONSTRATED
EXPANDING AMBITIONS AND STRENGTHS, AND WAS HONORED WITH TWO GRAMMY
NOMINATIONS, ONE FOR FOLK ALBUM AND ANOTHER FOR AMERICAN ROOTS SONG
(“ALABAMA AT NIGHT”).
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25/09/2018 Last update