Reverend Organdrum - Hi-Fi Stereo

The Reverend Horton Heat gig I saw last month was the same fast and frenzied postmodern rockabilly that’s been drawing standing-room only crowds for two decades. Front man Jim Heath’s hair might be starting to show his age, but his guitar playing isn’t exactly what you might expects from a many pushing fifty.

I knew that Reverend Organdrum, Heath’s side project with Hammond organist Time Alexander and drummer Todd Soesbe, would be different from Rev. Horton Heat, but I wasn’t expecting such a laid-back lounge vibe from this CD. Heath and Alexander interweave the sounds of their respective instruments not in the spirit of showmanship usually seen in rockabilly revivalism, but to effect an atmosphere, the rockabilly after-party chill-out.


Listen:
Reverend Organdrum - A Shot in the Dark

Buy:
From Reverend Organdrum
From Amazon

The Jones Street Boys - Overcome

I got a song off this album from another blog (S:I?) a few months ago and couldn’t stop playing it. That song, “Last Time,” showed the Jones Street Boys as a promising string band willing to incorporate accent instruments such as piano, harmonica, and traps drums. When they sent me their disc last month, I was not disappointed. But their record shows a greater stylistic range than I was expecting. They keep their record centered on the New York-style string-band sound, but they foreground harmonica, piano, organ, and other keyboard instruments on a few tracks. This album comfortably inhabits the uneasy middle ground between string-band revivalism, insurgent country, adult alternative acoustic, and hipster folk. The other stand-out track on the disc is a cover of the Band’s “Twilight.”

Listen:
The Jones Street Boys - Last Time
The Jones Street Boys - Twilight

Buy:
From Insound
From Amazon