Honkytonk and Vine

David Serby | Format: MP3 Download

Product Details

• Original Release Date: May 11, 2009
• Label: Harbor Grove
• Copyright: (C) 2009 Harbor Grove
• Genres:
• ASIN: B002CBDR1O
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #379,739 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great indie country from Southern California, August 18, 2009

By 

DJ Joe Sixpack (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Honky Tonk & Vine (Audio CD)

David Serby
"Honk Tonk & Vine"
(Harbor Grove Records, 2009)
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Great record, the third album from this indiebilly hard country rocker from Los Angeles. The set opens on an explosive, rollicking note with "Get It In Gear," a propulsive retro-rock tune worthy of the Blasters or Rockpile in their heydays. Steel-drenched hillbilly twang takes over for the rest of the record, with a bit of Tex-Mex accordion thrown in as well. Each style and each song leaps out at you, in an album packed with concise, masterful gems. Serby seems to be laying claim to the spirit of roots revival that swelled up in L.A. in the 1980s -- nice to hear a new artist taking up the torch and getting it all so right. Word to the wise: this is a great cruising record; take it on your next road trip and turn the volume up high. (DJ Joe Sixpack, Slipcue Guide To Hick Music)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrific throwback to mid-80s West Coast country, May 26, 2009

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Honky Tonk & Vine (Audio CD)

Though he grew up in Illinois with adoptive parents, Serby's a bona fide throwback to the throwback sounds of mid-80s Los Angeles. Ironically, he was born in Los Angeles to a biological father, only recently discovered, who was also a country musician. Serby's honky-tonk swells from the same roots as the Blasters, but with a deeper helping of the country twang and two-step rhythms Dwight Yoakam brought to the scene. Serby's vocals favor a gentler version of the Blasters' Phil Alvin, but he also dips into a croon, such as with the Tex-Mex "For Cryin' Out Loud," splitting the difference between Yoakam and Ricky Nelson. The influential echoes are a bit eerie, but the swinging and songwriting are the real deal.

The album opens with twangy electric guitar and hot fiddle licks on the car themed "Get it in Gear." Serby chases the object of his affection with enough hot rod allusions to make Brian Wilson and Roger Christian smile. He rains tears into his beer, despairs of cheating, and chases the tail-ends of revolving relationships to emerge with a sense of redemption when the dumper finds herself the dumpee. He writes sad songs, but doesn't sing them sad as the band mostly sticks to jaunty mid-tempos. The down-tempo numbers, including the empathic ballad "Tumble Down," and country soul "Honky Tonk Affair" are terrific, making you wish Serby would slow down a bit more often.

Serby's a superb craftsman, expanding clever song titles into lyrics whose rhymes flow as smoothly as conversation. He's just as clever with his music, mixing up straight two-steps, accordion lined Tex-Mex, Bakersfield sting, and Blasters-styled blue roots-rock. His band is terrific (the rhythm section of bassist Taras Prodaniuk and drummer Gary Ferguson is truly propulsive), as is guest steel from Rick Shea and the legendary Jay Dee Maness and fiddle from Gabe Witcher. Adding to the historic coincidence, Maness played with Serby's birth father in decade's past. Shaking off a career in insurance, Serby indulged unknown musical genes and crafted a career filled with the joy of making music. That joy is in every country root he intertwines here. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]