Customer Reviews

Get a Load of This

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I always suspected that Dave was the brains behind the late, great Dave & Deke Combo, and that Deke just had the looks... Now, with the release of Dave's first solo album, my suspicions are confirmed. This is a flat-out awesome ton of fun -- Dave Stuckey playing upbeat western swingabilly along with a passel of hot-shot pickers from Austin and surrounding environs. Among the musicians pitching in on here are the picker's pickers, Biller & Wakefield, Whit Smith and Elana Fremerman of the Hot Club of Cowtown, and several other Gang members of equal note. The best part, though, is Dave himself. Half the songs on here are his originals, but they're so true to the style that you'd easily believe they were written back in the '40s and '50s, along with the oldies by Boudeleux Bryant, Benny Goodman and Harold Hensley. Stuckey is a for-real scholar of authentic, old-time, smirk-while-you're-singin' countrybilly music, and he stands heads above many other would-be retro-novelty singers, in his depth of knowledge, his excellent comic timing and feel for the material. (Plus, as a big Decca Records fan, I really dig the album art!) If you dug the Combo, you gotta check this album out.

Captures the Bob Wills & Texas Playboys era perfectly. Swagger, dance, sing along, whatever. Loved this CD, which I first heard on KPFA Berkeley.