Rollick 'n Frolic
Don't Try This At Home (Independent)
The Juggernaut Jug Band
Pure unadulterated fun! Bubbling entertainment that exceeds the daily-required dose of enjoyment. A fast paced celebration of music, most of which comes from the late 1920s and 30s. Don't Try This At Home, from Louisville's Juggernaut Jug Band, is filled with warmth and respect for jug music and even contains an appearance from the world's worst Elvis impersonator. Don't Try This at Home is the JJB at its best. Every measure is as tasty and zesty as the west end soul food described in Jim Webb's original track, "Barbeque on Broadway."
It's blues, jazz, Hawaiian, and ragtime. A riot of tight arrangements that gets off to a flying start with swinging renditions of "Cowboy" and "Who Walks In When I Walk Out." The sounds of "Old Yazoo" are reminiscent of The Buzzard Rock String Band. The JJB's vocal arrangements are always tight, especially in "Borneo," "Minnie The Moocher's Wedding Day," and "Foldin' Bed."
Jim "World Wide" Webb, contributes his usual exceptional pickin', grinnin', and vocals. "Hawaiian Holiday" is another clever set of original lyrics and melody from the gifted Webb pen. And how many of you remember Jim in a former life when he was affectionately known as Gymnasium? (pronounced Jim-Nay-seum)
"Roscoe Goose" wails on jug, trumpet, and snare drum. But his finest cuts are the washboard work in "Coney Island Washboard" and harmonica work in "Move Out of Town." Meanwhile, the amazing Mr. "Gil Fish" provides bass, washtub bass, nose flute, and vocals. His artistry shines in a brilliant kazoo solo in "Foldin' Bed" and "Borneo." As a bonus, the CD insert contains instructions for one of his card tricks! Who else but the JJB gives you as much for your money?
"Big Daddy T's" forte is a mastery for guitar, banjo, dobro, and vocals. His best moment is the rousing CD closer, a cover of "You Really Got Me." Guest artist Jeff "Chainsaw" Guernsey provides some fine fiddle work in "You Ought To Move Out of Town" and "Who Walks in When I Walk Out."
This project is sheer pleasure. The JJB is a group of talented and accomplished musicians who have a clear knack for fun.
For your copy of this CD, contact Juggernaut Inc, 2821 Hoock Ave., Louisville KY 40205. Or check out www.juggernautjugband.com for more information, sound clips, and appearance schedule.
Tyrone Cotton is certainly a hard-to-pigeonhole musical artist. His voice can exude the intensity of a Son House or an Odetta, or conversely, the warmth of a Nashville Skyline-period Bob Dylan. His musical approach combines the folkiness of late-period Josh White with the eclectic guitar styling of Lonnie Johnson. While he can hold his own on guitar in the context of jazz ensemble playing, he is perhaps best appreciated as a well-rounded, yet altogether singular, solo artist.
I first heard Tyrone Cotton in the late Eighties at an open stage at Uncle Pleasant's and was immediately struck by the depth of this vocals and the deftness of his guitar playing. His repertoire of Bob Dylan and Tom Waits covers interspersed with classical guitar pierces, acoustic blues and Langston Hughes and Gene Toomer poems set to music underscore his unusual approach to song selection. I knew I was witnessing an important artist in his formative years and assumed that one day his music would receive the attention it go obviously deserve.
However, a subsequent performance at a Garvin Gate Blues Festival made it only too clear to me how easy it would be for someone like Cotton to go essentially unheard: the Main Stage was a long block away on Oak Street, facing south down Garvin Place and featured a Chicago-style blues band blowing at full throttle and in a soulful groove. Cotton sat alone on a stage at the south end of Garvin, facing north and playing some of the finest amplified acoustic blues one could ever hope to hear. Right then, I felt like Pete Seeger must have at Newport: cut those d***ed wires!
There is a little bit of both solo and ensemble in Tyrone Cotton's self-titled debut release on Left Shoe Records. Unfortunately, the ensemble cuts are all near the beginning, while leaving the solo tracks for last. Consequently, the project sounds like two distinct sets of music and not to good effect. It's necessary to get past the dualism to realize what a fine collection of tracks this is.
The real treat - and surprise - here is Cotton's songwriting, which accounts for seven of the nine tracks. The best of the lot appear in the solo section, and have the timeless feel of genuine folk songs and/or ancient poetry.
"What's Wrong" is an ominous, minor-key blues in the "St. James Infirmary" tradition, with an equally ominous - but specified - lyric:
Now both our hands are dirty.
I wish I never knew.
The guess you needed somebody to talk to.
"New Songs" is as pure and simple a love song as one could write, characterized primarily by its directness and the subtlest of sexual metaphors. "Breaking Away" is nothing short of elegant and is the CD's most striking piece. As the title implies, it is about leaving the nest; the singer reflects on being "scared to move, more scared to stand still." But the love of the mother (or mother figure) is unconditional, offering a safe haven should the venturing out prove less than successful:
You can always come back home
If the world outside is too much.
And I'll hold you in my arms, pretty baby.
Of the ensemble tracks, "Storm" is probably the best tune: it is not unrelated to "Breaking Away." In "Storm," the rescuer sees in the rescued (the singer) "what no one could see," and rescued singer is apparently surprised at being suddenly appreciated and valued:
How could it be?
The storm was raging, but you heard me.
You ran for me.
Again, the love is unconditional, but the gratefulness of the singer could as easily be directed toward a divine power, suggesting the song could work as a gospel tune. Cotton gets help on "Storm" from drummer Ted Richardson, keyboardist Scott Thomas and Tyrone Wheeler on bass. Wheeler's bass is also heard to good effect on "Something," slinking along under the melody, giving the track much of its skeletal structure. Ron Hayden makes an appearance on guitar on the album's jazz-tinged opening track, "Thinking of You," the most up-tempo cut included here.
The CD is rounded out by fine acoustic blues takes on Texas bluesman Henry Thomas' "Don't Ease Me In," (later popularized by the Grateful Dead), and Texas songster Mance Lipscomb's "Good As I've Been To You," more recently covered by Dylan. Cotton's mastery of acoustic blues is no secret and find him rising to the occasion should be no surprise. In fact, the overall quality of the songs/tracks should not surprise, either. If it just wasn't for that sequencing . . .
(Thanks to John Grammer for data and perspective.)