Hot Licks, Cold Steel and Truckers Favorites
After inventing their unique brand of hippie-country-rock-boogie-woogie on their debut, the Airmen returned with a second helping dedicated to truckers and trucking. As on their first album, the band wrote and borrowed originals to mix with brilliantly picked covers. Newly penned classics include the country rockers, "Truck Stop Rock" and "Semi-Truck," the seductive, bluesy "Cravin' Your Love," and the old-timey country-gospel of "Kentucky Hills of Tennessee."
Covers include one of the best-ever readings of Terry Fell's "Truck Drivin' Man" and a scorching, bar-ready take of "Rip it Up." The Commander takes the microphone for Memphis' Curtis spoken blues, "It Should've Been Me," with a fine fat-toned sax solo from Andy Stein. Stein also swings his fiddle for the cajun-flavored "Diggy Liggy Lo."
The toughness of the trucker's life is sung in the classic "Lookin' at the World Through a Windshield," and in Blackie Ferrell's brilliant "Mama Hated Diesels." The loneliness of the road and the emotional wreckage a trucker's life levies on those left behind is one of country music's most powerful archetypes, and the Airmen play it for all it's worth.
Though the recording is a bit tinny in spots, the playing and singing are top-notch, and an essential part of the Airmen's ouvre. MCA's put this out on CD and then let it drop from their catalog, which means you either have to track down a used copy or see if the Commander himself has any left in his personal stash.
Covers include one of the best-ever readings of Terry Fell's "Truck Drivin' Man" and a scorching, bar-ready take of "Rip it Up." The Commander takes the microphone for Memphis' Curtis spoken blues, "It Should've Been Me," with a fine fat-toned sax solo from Andy Stein. Stein also swings his fiddle for the cajun-flavored "Diggy Liggy Lo."
The toughness of the trucker's life is sung in the classic "Lookin' at the World Through a Windshield," and in Blackie Ferrell's brilliant "Mama Hated Diesels." The loneliness of the road and the emotional wreckage a trucker's life levies on those left behind is one of country music's most powerful archetypes, and the Airmen play it for all it's worth.
Though the recording is a bit tinny in spots, the playing and singing are top-notch, and an essential part of the Airmen's ouvre. MCA's put this out on CD and then let it drop from their catalog, which means you either have to track down a used copy or see if the Commander himself has any left in his personal stash.
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