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LUCKY TOMBLIN BAND
Following on the heels of their critically-acclaimed 2006 release, In A Honky-Tonk Mood, Austin's all-star Lucky Tomblin Band has recorded another collection of classic honky-tonk and country music, Red Hot From Blue Rock (Texas World Records, distributed nationally by Burnside Distribution). The package also includes a special 35-minute "making-of" DVD, which includes interviews with the band and in-studio performances.
Like its predecessor, Red Hot From Blue Rock takes a handful of gems from the classic Forties-Fifties-early Sixties era of country music and hardcore honky-tonk, mixes them with some vibrant new original material and sets the whole thing swinging to the beat of one of the hottest bands in a city renowned for A-list musicians. (The album's title refers to the Blue Rock Artist Ranch and Studios in the tiny town of Wimberley, near Austin, where the album was recorded).
This time, thanks to the somewhat secluded location of the recording sessions and the increased rapport among the band members, the songs on Red Hot From Blue Rock sound more organic and cohesive than ever. "Blue Rock gave us a place where we could be together for a couple of weeks, laughing, playing, talking and being together," recalled bandleader Tomblin. "All of us were out there in an environment that was very soulful and beneficial to the process. You can hear it all coming together, and when you look at the DVD that's included, you can see everyone working together to create something unique."
The Lucky Tomblin Band is a true all-star group consisting of some of the best players in roots music today: Lucky Tomblin (lead vocals), Redd Volkaert (lead guitar and lead vocals), Earl Poole Ball (piano and lead vocals), John Reed (lead guitar and lead vocals), Sarah Brown (bass and lead vocals), Bobby Arnold (rhythm guitar and lead vocals) and Jon Hahn on drums. Their members boast among their respective resumes tours of duty with Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Albert Collins, Ray Charles, Doug Sahm, and a host of other music luminaries.
In the past year and a half, since the release of their last album, Lucky and the band have established a monthly residence at the famous Broken Spoke dancehall in Austin that attracts growing crowds of dedicated two-steppers. They've also been nominated for the second year running in Duo/Group category for the Academy of Western Artists.
"You can hear the fun we had creating this new album," said Tomblin proudly. "We were trying to build on the last album, and with this one we chose a different studio and a different way of recording. Also, we've really come together as a band since (the last project)—as opposed to being a collection of great musicians, which of course they are. There's a richer depth to the playing and I'm really proud of the new release and of everyone who had a hand in helping create it.
"Picking the songs was truly a group effort," he continued. "Everyone would go out and look for great, maybe obscure songs from one of the richest periods of country music history in the Forties and Fifties that we could re-do and make fresh. Everybody picked several tunes, and we got together in the studio and played ‘em and honed it down. It was an interesting and fun experience for all of us. Sometimes one of us would come in with a song, and maybe it was good, but someone else would say, well, here's one that might work a little better"
Red Hot From Blue Rock is an apt description for this sizzling collection of songs delivered by Austin's proud purveyors of homegrown Texas honky-tonk music. With two previous albums of critically-acclaimed roadhouse music under its collective belt, The Lucky Tomblin Band returns with yet another dance floor mix of both originals and well-chosen covers by such classic writers as Hank Williams ("Howlin' at the Moon"), Jerry Lee Lewis ("End of the Road"), Moon Mullican ("Sundown Blues"), Mel Tillis ("Honky Tonk Song"), Buddy Knox ("Party Doll"), Tommy Duncan ("Time Changes Everything") and Billy "The Kid" Emerson ("Red Hot"), among others. Of the originals, two were written by LTB bassist Sarah Brown (one co-written with Rosie Flores), and one was co-written by the group's keyboard maestro Earl Poole Ball (along with Cajun star Jo-el Sonnier). The album was produced by veteran Austin guitarist (Toni Price, the LeRoi Brothers) Casper Rawls, and recorded and engineered by Keith Gary.
Bandleader Lucky Tomblin takes the lead vocals for four songs on Red Hot From Blue Rock, and also showcases the lead singing strengths of the rest of the group's members throughout the rest of the tracks, with Redd Volkaert, Earl Poole Ball, John Reed and Sarah Brown each singing on two songs and Bobby Arnold making his singing debut on the Floyd Tillman classic, "I'll Keep On Loving You."
The Lucky Tomblin Band's two previous CDs, the self-titled debut in 2003 and last year's In A Honky-Tonk Mood, showcased a killer band in its true element: Texas roadhouse honky-tonk music perfect for listening and dancing. "If The Lucky Tomblin Band doesn't put you in a honky-tonk mood, there's either something wrong with you, or you're not really listening," said one reviewer about the band's sound. "This is classic honky-tonk as it was meant to be played," said another.
Perhaps yet a third reviewer may have had the best description yet of this music when he wrote: "Tomblin and crew deliver what a good time Luckenbach honky-tonk Saturday night must have felt like back when the earth was cooling. A real party on a platter for anyone with homegrown tastes."
Of In A Honky-Tonk Mood, the Virginian-Pilot wrote, "The Lucky Tomblin Band's latest has the ability to transform any abode—no matter the dwelling or country—into a sawdust-on- the-floor, longnecks-chillin'-on-the-bar sweaty Texas roadhouse Tomblin's band must have 1000 years of collective performing/recording experience."
And the Philadelphia Inquirer called the band's self-titled 2003 debut "an engaging set of traditional country that also touches on western swing, blues and conjunto." No Depression magazine proclaimed it "a swinging affair, tight but casual. It's the sound of musicians showing how well they know their way around the sound the music has variety, emotion and some strong, sure hands at work."
Profile courtesy of Mark Pucci Media.