T-Bone – Good ‘N Greasy
(Independent)
Reviewed by Tim Gruar.
If you, like me, are missing your annual WOMAD fix and pining for those bands that do good old timey folk and blues then this new collection from Poneke’s own festive five-piece, T-Bone, may just be what you need. ‘Good ‘N Greasy’ may be their debut disc but these guys have been treading the boards of our community halls and stompin’ the grass verges of our beer gardens for a fair few years, brewing up their master stock of American Roots music mixed with a generous helping of Kiwiana.
They originally kicked off as a trio over seven years ago and are now a quintet. Capital-dwellers will know Gerry Paul as a songwriter, musician, producer and the director responsible for Cuba Dupa and the Coastella festivals. Originally Dublin-born, then raised in the Hutt Valley, he spent sixteen years touring the world with traditional Irish music stars Gráda, and later with Bluegrass virtuoso Tim O’Brien and accordion player Sharon Shannon (who you would have seen at WOMAD a couple of years back).
If you’ve got kids of a certain age then you’ll remember his book and song ‘Hank The Wrestling Shark’. It certainly became the biggest earworm on our car journeys when mine were in primary school.
Originally from New Jersey, Richard Klein was previously a member of the Le Blanc Brothers Cajun Band (Melbourne). Fun fact – he once headlined the Rainforest World Music Festival in Sarawak, Borneo. He’s a good man to know, being wine importer by day, singer and fiddle player by night.
You might also recognise Cameron “Dusty” Burnell’s name. The multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter has toured New Zealand extensively over the last five years as a member of The Frank Burkitt Band, The Federal String Band, The Hardcore Troubadours, Kim and Dusty.
Taranaki native Michael Muggeridge the has been playing folk guitar forever, and best known in the capital for his time in the group Huia Express.
Completing the line up is the man the band refer to Aaron Stewart as the ‘architect of arpeggios’ he’s a long-time member of Mel Parson’s band and more recently had played bass in the latest incarnation of Fly My Pretties.
The album kicks off with a bit of trad Cajun called ‘Lucille’, a Zydeco song, made famous by “the King of Zydeco”, Clifton Chenier. Klein’s rich, raspy, road-gravelled voice does a superb job of adding the right level authenticity to the number, and his fiddle swings into action to add even more colour.
‘T-Bone Rag’ conjures up classic Bluegrass vibes, reminding me of those ditties from Ray Columbus’ ‘That’s Country’ TV show, alongside and more recent gigs by the Roseneath Centennial Ragtime Band. There’s a few home town references in here including Wellington’s Brooklyn – a nod to where one of the band lives perhaps? Whatever, this is T-Bone’s manifesto for a great ho-down party: “Gonna sing old time tunes under that big old moon!” Add to that wine, crayfish, BBQ T-Bone steaks and ‘drinking and laughing and singin’ and dancin’ the night away!” A good time indeed!
The lyrics on the slow waltz ‘Far North’ give this one away: “I’m chasing off the winter, gonna leave the wind behind / To a place where the sun is shining and the ocean’s on my mind”. Surely this a reference to Gerry Paul’s recent move from Poneke to Kerikeri to manage the Turner Centre (for Performing Arts). Burnell’s banjo and Stewart’s bass gives the song a bit of a wagon-wheel road trip feel, matched by the chugging beat that provides a cool undercurrent.
There’s a bit of Irish folk ‘I Like to Ramble’ about a guy that just can’t settle down. Then there’s a change of tempo with a bitter sweet jazz ballad called ‘You Didn’t Write Me Letters Back’. Paris, Rome and other classic cities pop up on various songs, including this one. I wondered if the inspiration for this song was an old French film or a long forgotten brief liaison during a European student exchange trip. A lost love, never requited? Who knows?
The song swaggers along giving plenty of airtime to some swanky mandolin and violin solos. When Klein starts to sing Thomas Coulton’s French verse at the end in his distinctive gruff you can’t help of thinking of New Orleans blues-voodoo master Dr John. The intro did take me back, though. It reminded me of The Turtles ‘Happy Together’, if only slightly. But don’t let that put you off.
On ‘Ding Dong’ there’s a bit of a Western kinda swing going on. Perhaps some skiffle, too. I particularly loved the pickin’ on this one.
And, if you want that 70’s Country pop that John Denver or the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band did so well, then ‘I Hope That Time Passes Me By’ will probably be your best selection.
The real party notches up with the title track called ‘Keep My Skillet Good ‘n Greasy’, a rearranged old timey traditional. You can guess the less than subtle innuendo in the title and the lyrics are no less delicate either: “I’ll lay ‘round your shanty all the time/ Gonna get a jug of brandy/ Gonna give it all to Mandy/ Keep her good ‘n drunk ‘n dirty all the time!”
The song is often credited to Uncle Dave Macon, a banjo player from Nashville now recognised by the Country Music Hall of Fame. It’s thought that he learned it from an African American mill worker before recording it in 1924. The original sounded more like an old Bluegrass number. But with Klein on fiddle the song is elevated to a faster Cajun swing which definitely jazzes up the trash talkin’ aspect of this old timer.
My favourite was the mid-tempo back country folk number ‘Come Play Me’, an ironic juxtaposition between being two timed both in love and in music – experience, love, loss and gain. “I’ve heard the truth being sung and I’ve read between the lines”. The violin on this one is just delightful and the band take their time ‘playing it out’ with a clever crescendo towards the end that will guarantee an ovation when it’s done live.
‘Manuka Swing – Balfa Waltz’ closes the album. Slowly winding in with a mandolin, it has a dark sad feel about it – of loss and losing. It then picks up, with the effect of two fiddles playing long and mournful, with Klein soulful patois vocals coming in over the top for extra effect. The song is in the style of the famous five Balfa Brothers, two who would play fiddle simultaneously. They first recorded in 1951, touring folk venues all over the world and playing Cajun music at a time in which its impact on American music mostly been forgotten.
I note on the liner notes that the album was recorded at Wellington’s Surgery Studios then mixed at Marguerite Studios, Dublin and finally mastered at Munki in the Capital, showing it’s been halfway around the world and back again. But no where near the Deep South. Still, a truly global effort.
Good ‘N Greasy is what we need right now, fun, bright and down right folkie. These guys are very good at what they do. They play American traditional music almost like they wrote it (actually they did write most of these tunes!) and are the closest you’re going to get to New Orleans or Louisiana without leaving your apartment. So, fire up the grill, call around a few mates and get this swingin’ party started.
If you enjoyed this content, please consider donating towards the running of Ambient Light, covering expenses and allowing us to expand the coverage you love by visiting our PressPatron page.