Customer Reviews

Hacienda Brothers

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Paladins have been one of my favorites since the 80's. We always look forward to them coming to Oregon. Dave Gonzalez is peerless on the guitar in a 3 piece band.

Listening to the last few Paladins albums this new direction was clearly coming. Just take a look at Dave's photo on the back of the Paladins latest "El Matador" with the telecaster and western threads. The guitar solos were getting more subtle and meant to be a component of the song. Dave combining his talents with Chris Gaffney into the Hacienda Brothers was the next logical step.

Listening to the new Hacienda Brothers CD brings it all together. I was anxiously awaiting its arrival and have been listening to it non-stop. By the time song #2 -"Mental Revenge"-was chugging along I knew this was one of the best handful of albums I have ever bought. Chris Gaffney has an unbelieveable voice and the songs where Dave takes lead vocals are excellent too. This is true musicianship - just 5 players that can lay it down in the studio or live. This record should cause Nashville to be embarrased with the junk they are sending out. These guys deserve our support and our praise. Buy It!

I've been a big fan of Chris Gaffney's for quite some time which is why I purchased this CD the day it was released. Surprisingly enough, I wasn't immediately blown away the first time I listened to it. I thought, "This was pretty good but not amazing." The second time through, I started thinking that it was maybe better than I thought. By the third or fourth time through, I was hooked. There are some CD's out there that need to grow on you. This is one of them and it's worth the time to enjoy it.

This is a great album thanks to a number of amazing songs. Walkin' on My Dreams and The Years That Got Away are two examples of songwriting that will last forever. While I've always thought that Gaffney's voice has been one of the best, I also enjoyed the songs where Dave Gonzales takes the lead.

Finally, I also have the feeling that these songs will work even better in a live setting. Gaffney and Gonzales are great performers so get in line if they come to a venue near you.

Chris Gaffney & Dave Gonzalez of the Paladins head up the Hacienda Brothers. This self-titled CD honky tonks like it was 1969. In 1966, Mel Tillis recorded a song called "Mental Revenge" on his "Stateside" LP for Kapp which was followed in 1968 by a version by Waylon Jennings on an RCA LP called "Jewels." The Hacienda Brothers dust this off like a Sherman tank and march like they're stomping on an old love affair, "I hope that the train from Caribou, Maine runs over your new love affair." "I'm So Proud," penned by Chris & Dave, is a gorgeously romantic love song, "Loving each other, we been thru it all, You built me so high, Honey, don't let me fall." Dave Gonzalez's guitar stars on "South of Lonesome" that'd probably made Johnny Cash a bit jealous. Dan Penn who produced this disc has written some incredible classic tunes like "I'm Your Puppet" & "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man." With Dave Gonzalez, Penn pens "Lookin' for Loneliness," a sweet country-jazz flavored ditty with Spooner Oldham on organ. "Railed" is a delightful Dave Gonzalez instrumental that boogies like a Dick Dale surfer born in Texas. Chris Gaffney's weathered vocals embrace a Dan Penn original, "The Years That Got Away," "Hair that was black now's turning grey, where they go, I'll never know, the years that got away." On his 1967 self-titled LP that also had what would become the Nilsson "Midnight Cowboy" classic "Everybody's Talkin'," Fred Neil recorded "I've Got A Secret" that George Hamilton IV had released a year earlier. In this Hacienda Brothers' update, it's a dense smoky tear-in-your-beer last call number, "You know I pawned my watch, I pawned my chain, I would have sold my soul, but I felt ashamed." The 2nd instrumental "Saguaro" ends the set like the lost soundtrack to a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western. This is a strong outing for a partnership that will hopefully write a few more chapters before it heads off into the sunset. Enjoy!

I once ran into Chris Gaffney at a Dave Alvin concert. He sang a couple of songs during the encore and blew me away. This band is the best IMO that he has played with. Dave Gonzalez is a phenomenal guitarist and has great tone. This is adult country music - roots oriented with healthy dose of Motown and the Western part of C&W. I gave this one for X-Mass presents.

coming across this band has renewed my lost interest in todays music. Listening to the radio had become a chore, all of it sounds the same, all produced by corporate big-wigs instead of musicians. I first heard the Hacienda Brothers on sirius radio and was intrigued by the sound. I wondered why I wasn't hearing this on big radio stations, anyway, i purchased the album on amazon and when I got it and played it the first time I flipped. I love the country and soul combo, the steel guitar took me back to the early country days, when country was country, but this band blows it all open and come at you at all angles. I truly love the cd and it is weird but everyone that listens to it feels the same; which brings me to my original question, why isn't this stuff played on major radio stations. Do yourself a favor and buy this cd and buy all there cds they are a breath of fresh air in a music world that has gone sour. Thank you H-Brothers!!!!!! I love it

Had to say it couldn't help it . Lot's more to this group than

can be put on a CD. If you get the chance ,see them live. I never presume to think my opinion, or anyones for that matter is what a product should be measured by, but I liked it mucho.It plays in my head long after the player stops. Can't wait for the 2nd and third.

Being a long-time fan of Chris Gaffney's (his sister-in-law is a good bud...love ya, Monkey Girl!), I was bummed that yet another year had passed by without something new from this unique singer/songwriter. Needless to say, I was jazzed when I heard he had formed a new group with Dave Gonzalez, the former frontman of the Paladins. And, man, was the wait worth it! HACIENDA BROTHERS is a stunning mixture of traditional country, honky-tonk, Tex Mex and Soul, with a little surf edge tossed in for good measure. Normally such an eclectic mix would usually scream "Disaster!", but it all works here, and works well! Opening up the disc is the Dale Watsonesque "She's Gone." This traditional weeper, with it's stripped-down, economical arrangement and stellar lead vocal from Gaff, could easily have fit on any classic 60's - early 70's country album. An awesome way to kick things off! Next up is the Mel Tillis gem "Mental Revenge." With it's tongue-in-cheek lyrics (humor being used often - and to good effect! - throughout much of the disc) and stinging guitar work from Gonzalez, the guys take this song and make it their own. When Gaffney sings "You'll walk the floor, from door to door...and pull out your peroxide hair", you feel the contempt and anger....but at the same time, you've got to chuckle! Simply brilliant! Gonzalez takes over lead vocals on the zydeco-flavored "Leavin' On My Mind." Featuring tasty guitar work from Gonzalez, beautiful pedal steel by David Berzansky and the whip-smart drumming of Richard Medek, the track is perfectly augmented by Gaffney's pumping accordian. As the song shuffles along, all these diverse elements blend together masterfully, one never overpowering the other, and you are magically transported down to the bayou. The final result? One of the album's best cuts! "I'm So Proud", a song about love and devotion, has a nice, easy sway to it, with an absolutely honest and unaffected lead vocal from Gaff. And then there's "South Of Lonesome." One might be tempted to write this off as a goofy parody....I mean, with lyrics like "And that sign ahead reads Lonesome city limits/A place where happiness comes to no one/I walk on streets not ever dry from teardrops/I'm travellin' North....just a little bit South of Lonesome" how could you not?!? But then you remember that there were many a classic country number written in this oh-so-clever manner. THEN you realize that these guys just NAILED it! FINALLY, you find yourself smiling, thinking about a longago, more....innocent time. Bravo! Next up is my favorite track, the slinky "Lookin' For Loneliness." Mix a John Hiatt growling mid-tempo rocker with some 60's soul and you have the core of "Lookin'...". Add some dazzling basslines from Hank Maninger, the swinging horns of Wayne Jackson and Dennis Taylor and the blues-soaked lead vocal that ranks among Gaffney's best to date, and you have an instant classic! The Hiatt vibe continues with "Walking On My Dreams", another bluesy ballad that just drips of pain and resignation. Absolutely lovely (special attention must be given to Gonzalez' gorgeous guitar playing)! "Railed" is a fruggin' surf instrumental.....don't ask me how, but it works! Gonzalez takes over the lead vocals once more on the chugging "No Time To Waste." A perfect example of what can be done with just guitar, bass and drums, the track also features a killer harmony vocal from Teddy Morgan. Another one of the disc's high points! "The Years That Got Away" is probably the CD'S strongest cut lyrically. Dan Penn's gentle, heartfelt words about aging, love and devotion - "I never saw them comin', I never saw them leave/They came and went just like a whisp of smoke on a breeze/Hair that was black...now turnin' grey/Where they go I'll never know?....the years that got away" - are supported by a thoughtful, unadorned arrangement and a lead vocal from Gaffney that is equal parts manly, delicate, honest and resigned. Another classic! "Seven Little Numbers" is Gaffney's only solo composition on HACIENDA BROTHERS, and what a song it is! Mark my word, if this song had been written 45 years ago, not only would Patsy Cline have recorded it, she would have had a HUGE hit with it! Gaffney's vocal just shines! For the first few listens, I just wasn't nuts about "I've Got A Secret", but it's grown on me....a good, solid album track. Things wrap up with the humorous "Turn To Grey" ("I didn't seem to mind that Riverside was our home/The rent was cheap, honey, so were you") and the spaghetti-western instrumental "Saguaro" (once again....it just works, particularly Gonzalez' guitar work and Wayne Jackson's killer trumpet!). So...looking for something fresh, unique and unexpected? Then pick up HACIENDA BROTHERS (As with all my reviews, I'm giving the disc an extra half a star for including the lyrics).

I saw these guys at Pickathon 2005 and they were fabulous, a great bar band. Chris Gaffney was a very charismatic live performer. Unfortunately, that charisma doesn't come across on this studio album and the whole thing sounds flat, both in sound and in inspiration. Were Chris Gaffney still alive, I would drive many miles to hear this band, but I would pass on this album.

The music seems to be all over the map. Not sure what they were

trying to accomplish at any point. Not a bad CD but a mismatched

compilation having a great version of the song Mental Revenge.