Rip Carson - My Simple Life Golly Gee Records GGR The Hate Inside Of Me - All I Ask - Sinking Down - Miss Heartbreak - My Simple Life - Let Me Be -The One I Want - I’ll Tell You - That Aint Enough - Stuttering Cindy - Poor Me- Keep Moving -Happy Heart - I’m Not Free Sometimes you need time to get used to an artist. This is what happened to me with Rip Carson. I must admit he didn’t impress me very much when I bought his Twilight Trio albums.Then came the “Box Set” album and this time it “clicked” in my head.And now we have “My Simple Life”, his best album to date and probably one of the best rockabilly records this genre has given us in recent years. The musicians are no strangers to rockabilly fans:veteran Paul Diffin (The Blue Cats, Sugar Ray Ford, Big Six, Marshall & The Shooting Stars) on bass and recording, Joel Morin (Dawn Shipley, Pep Torres) on guitar and Michael Faughnan (Lustre Kings) on drums. The mid tempo “The Hate Inside Of Me” starts the album and you know you’re not just listening to “another good record”. I won’t go into a song by song review but you’ll find here great rockabilly tunes like Sinkin’ Down, That Ain’t Enough (two collaborations with Rip’s partner in crime: Ryan Sagat), Poor Me and I’m Not Free (with handclaps), a beautiful ballad that sounds like Sam Cooke meets Don Gibson (All I Ask) and two well chosen covers that suit perfectly Rip’s voice : Jackie Lee Cochran’ Miss Heartbreak and Charlie Feathers’ Stutterin’ Cindy. So, the results are quite simple: great musicians with great songwriting and great production work. Take a listen just to hear the instruments separately and you’ll see what I mean. What you have here is a piece of classic rockabilly. An album as important as Big Sandy’s “On The Go”, High Noon’s “Show & Dance” and maybe even Gene Vincent’s second album. You couldn't say I didn’t warn you. Fred "Virgil" Turgis           Dusty Chance and the Allnighters - The Real Deal  Wild Records Never heard of that band before? I guess it’s gonna change cause that trio really knows how to shake that thing! These guys who are from San Francisco but moved to Fresno (the home of Cattie Ness) and who have been playin together since October 2004 have just released their first album on the L.A. Wild Records. It’s called “The Real Deal” and it really deserve its name! The Allnighters -Jamie Lee Bradley on Bass, James Chance on Drums & Omar Romero (from Omar and the Stringpoppers) fillin’ in on Guitar (they are seekin’ for a permanent new member) new signed a twelve “shoot to kill” CD. They defined themselves as “the Bastard son of the Devil?,Jack Earls?,or maybe even Andy Starr!” so you know exactly what you’ll find in that album. A little Jack Earls (a cover of “Slow Down”), some Andy Starr frantic rockabilly (his “No Room For You Kind”) another cover (Maynard Horlick ‘s “Do The Bop”) and a lot of homemade devil music (nine self-penned songs)!! No “thrown away” songs, only solid breathless rock’n’bop killers!! In a very few words : “the real deal!” David Phisel           Ray Condo - Sweet Love On My Mind bw/ Big Dog, Little Dog Ray Condo Records CP007 This is a posthumous single gathered by Ray’s friend. Side one is the classic Johnny Burnette tune given the Hardrock Goners treatment, something like «wild rockabilly meets Hank Williams». B-side «Big Dog, Little Dog» is a song recorded during a rehearsal by Ray and his last musical project, featuring Stephen Nikleva (The Ricochets), Ian Tiles and Tony LaBorie, just a few months before his death. I may be wrong but the only other issued song from this line-up can be found on a tribute album to Alejandro Escovedo. A great piece of wildness (imagine Dee Dee Ramone goes hillbilly). A record you can order at www.slimsandy.com. Fred "Virgil" Turgis         Country Cattin’ - Movin’ On Cool & Crazy Record s CD005 Call Me Lonesome - Honky Tonk Girl - Hangmans Boogie - See You in My Dreams - Pinball Millionaire - I Got a Problem - Blue Days Black Nights - Hocus Pocus - I Believe in Love - Convicted - Dear John - If Your Ever Lonely - Blues Come Around - Mobilin’ Baby - Just Because - Movin’ On It’s been a long time since I heard such a good British band. With this album they can stand proudly next to The Riverside Trio or The Rimshots, who were, in my humble opinion, two of the best. Hillbilly boogie, honky tonk with a bit of rockabilly, what more could you ask for? Dave Brown’s voice is excellent (it sometimes reminds me Johnny Horton), Johnny Vee’s guitar skills are also amazing. From rockabilly licks to Chet Atkin’s (I’ll see you in my dreams), he knows them all! Don’t forget the slap bass which is the backbone of the band as they are drumless and the “newest” member Chris Cummings (from the Riverside Trio) on steel guitar. He also recorded this album at his Riverside Studios. A very good album that I’m warmly recommending to you, despite the cover design I’m not too keen on. Fred "Virgil" Turgis