What's Wrong With Right

Hacienda Brothers | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 27, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Proper Records Us
• ASIN: B000FO6L4A
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #97,413 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

On the surface, the combination might seem as strange as barbequed cactus, as the Memphis soul of producer and legendary songwriter Dan Penn meets the wide-open Southwestern strains of Arizona's Hacienda Brothers. Yet the lead brothers--singer/accordionist Chris Gaffney and guitarist/primary songwriter Dave Gonzalez--have plainly found a kindred spirit as well as a guiding light in Penn. The Haciendas' transformation of "Cry Like a Baby" (the Box Tops classic, penned by Penn and Spooner Oldham), spiced with accordion and steel guitar breaks, gives the tune a whole new seasoning, while the rendition of "It Tears Me Up" holds its own against Percy Sledge's original. Yet the music goes even farther afield, from the Philly soul of Gamble and Huff's "Cowboy to Girls" and a Gonzalez original, "The Last Time," that sounds like a signature shuffle by Ray Price, to the Sun-era rockabilly of "Rebound." A majestic cover of Charlie Rich's "Life's Little Ups and Downs" obliterates all distinction between country and soul. If the liner notes lacked songwriting credits, two Hacienda originals--the opening "Midnight Dream" and "Keep It Together"--could pass as Penn's R&B, while the title track--a collaboration between Gonzalez and Penn--is the purest country song here. --Don McLeese

Product Description

The Hacienda Brothers, led by cult heroes Chris Gaffney and Dave Gonzalez, introduced their wood-smoked blend of stone country and old-school R&B on their self-titled 2004 debut album, helmed by legendary writer/producer Dan Penn. The record was made in Tucson, where both of the principals, who now reside in Southern California, have roots, so people took to describing the group’s sound as "western soul." The term not only stuck, it proved to be inspirational when the Haciendas and Penn reconvened in the picturesque Arizona city for the follow-up effort, What’s Wrong With Right (Proper American Records), because the album vividly captures the new/old genre brought about by the pairing of Gaffney, Gonzalez and Penn.

The drop-dead gorgeous title song — one of the record’s several instant classics—marks the second time Gonzalez and Penn have written together, following the first album’s soulful "Looking for Loneliness." Dave has known Penn since 1998, when they met at a European festival between sets by and Penn and partner Spooner Oldham and Gonzalez’s Paladins. They share a love of everything automotive, but the guitarist remains in awe of Penn as a songwriter. Before their first collaboration, Gonzalez recalls that Penn told him, "I got three rules: I don’t do nothin’ over the phone, I don’t do nothin’ over the mail and I don’t do nothin’ over the Internet. I’m into hangin’ out." It turned out that Penn was particularly into hangin’ out in Tucson, which was one of the attractions of working with the Haciendas. The meeting of the minds amid mountains and desert proved to be fruitful for all concerned.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Western soul classic: Bakersfield to Memphis, June 29, 2006

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: What's Wrong With Right (Audio CD)

The Hacienda Brothers - Dave Gonzalez of The Paladins and Chris Gaffney of Dave Alvin's Guilty Men - hook up with Southern soul master Dan Penn for their second album in two years. The duo's varied background in blues, rockabilly, country and tex-mex is here, but the glue holding it together is the Memphis soul of producer and songwriter Penn. In addition to revisiting two of Penn's classics, "Cry Like a Baby" and "It Tears Me Up" (originally waxed by The Box Tops and Percy Sledge, respectively), Gonzalez and Penn co-wrote the soul-with-pedal-steel title track, and Gonzalez & Gaffney were inspired to write several more stone soul classics. But even that wasn't enough, as the trio visits the catalogs of Gamble & Huff ("Cowboys to Girls") and Charlie Rich ("Life's Little Ups and Downs") for more country/soul infusions.

If the songlist itself is impressive, the performance is even more so. Gaffney's raspy vocals fit the soulful tenor of these songs, and with Joe Terry's organ and Gonzalez's fluid guitar playing behind him, the Hacienda's recreate the emotional impact of Dan Penn's Muscle Shoals work without mimicking the original sounds. Where they differ, and where they refrain from simply copying what Penn had laid out before, is with the inclusion of loping western rhythms and twangy guitar picking. The alchemy is how the album indulges Gonzalez's country jones, but as southern soul, rather than as The Paladins rockabilly inflections.

One might look to Joe South as an antecedent, but where South brought then-contemporary pop influences into his southern background, the Hacienda's bring the West. Best of all, they can move in both directions: the Memphis soul of "It Tears Me Up" is augmented with pedal steel, while Gonzalez' honky-tonk two-step "The Last Time" is topped with Gaffney's soul-drenched vocal. The originals mix with the covers so thoroughly that the opening original "Midnight Dream" sounds like a cover of long-lost Atlantic single, Charlie Rich's "Rebound" takes an original turn with a Lousiana bounce, and the originals "Different Today" and "The Warning" seem to shuffle right out of the Waylon Jennings catalog.

This is a masterful release that charts new ground between soul and country, and a textbook example of how a brilliant producer can amplify a band's innate magnificence. [©2006 hyperbolium dot com]

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the best Americana releases of the year, July 18, 2006

By 

D. R Smyers (dallas, tx United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What's Wrong With Right (Audio CD)

This is classic honky tonk with a keene modern eye. Produced by the legendary Dan Penn (whose songs the band covers), this is music of rare beauty. Soulful and sincere, the brother's version of Charlie Rich's "Life Has it's Little Ups and Downs" nearly upstages the original. Fans of Hank Sr., Gram Parsons and even Al Green and the Stones need this cd. It's that good.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Long Live "The Sound of Western Soul", September 12, 2006

By 

Steven R. Struck (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What's Wrong With Right (Audio CD)

The songs on this CD are like nothing you hear on the radio today, and that's a real shame. The blend of country and soul is so original and so pleasing, and the Hacienda Brothers and genius producer Dan Penn have put together an excellent CD with brilliant songwriting, arranging and musicianship. Dave Gonzalez's electric, acoustic and baritone guitars give this band that southwestern edge that sets them apart, and Chris Gaffney's heartfelt and soulful vocals and wonderful accordion and guitar playing define the group's unique and refreshing sound. Also noticable on several tunes is the very talented steel guitar playing of David Berzansky, giving the songs that country twang that brings it all together. If you get the chance to catch the Hacienda Brothers live in concert, don't miss them ... they jam wonderfully together while each of their individual talents is showcased ... you will leave one of their shows stomping your feet and singing in your head, reliving the exciting energy and brilliant musicianship they display on stage. This CD deserves to be recognized as one of the most original and satisfying recordings to be released this year. Here's hoping they keep their blazing "western soul" sound alive for years to come!