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BRIAN SETZER
ROCKABILLY RIOT VOL. 1: A TRIBUTE TO SUN RECORDS
Surfdog
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Brian Setzer was born to play music propelled by hot licks invented by white hicks who fell under the spell of country and blues and shook ’em both up with slamming, primal rhythms and lyrics that appealed to teenage dancers (Billy Lee Riley’s "Red Hot") and make-out artists (Carl Mann’s arrangement of Nat Cole’s "Mona Lisa"). You could argue that Setzer covered this territory in the Stray Cats, but there’s a greater sense of unrestrained joy and energy in the one-or-two-take slams through the formative ’50s rock-and-roll nuggets on Rockabilly Riot (out this Tuesday). And Kevin McKendree’s piano helps re-create the era’s basic ensemble sound. The offerings range from classics like Carl Perkins’s "Blue Suede Shoes" and Johnny Cash’s "Get Rhythm" to obscurities like Tommy Blake’s "Flatfoot Sam" and Gene Simmons’s "Peroxide Blonde in a Hopped Up Model Ford." Setzer peals through his vast rockabilly guitar vocabulary — slapback rhythms, sliding chords and licks played with a round, jazzy tone, busted-up pentatonic phrases, and plenty of stingin’ twang, all masterfully delivered by an expert drilling deep into the bedrock of his quarter-century career.
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