The Texas Troubadours
played it pretty close to the vest while backing up
country
singer
Ernest Tubb
, precisely reproducing the sound of his recorded hits, but the band's warm-up sets without him were another thing entirely, bursting with jazzy overtones and as wild and free-ranging as a water bug on speed.
Tubb
toured and recorded regularly from the 1940s through to his retirement in 1982 and there were dozens of different
Texas Troubadours
configurations during that time, but a case could be made that
the Troubadours
were the finest live band in any genre in America from the late 1950s through the late 1960s, and this generous 36-track set of studio instrumentals from a couple of the group's classic lineups is pretty convincing proof of that. Produced by
Owen Bradley
and featuring the extraordinary talents of guitarist
Leon Rhodes
, steel guitarists
Buddy Emmons
and
Buddy Charleton
, and bassist
Jack Drake
(the brother of steel guitarist
Pete Drake
), these cuts show a crisp, adventuresome band blowing everything out of the pipes with a galloping, steam-rolling exuberance that simply has to be heard. Everything collected here is memorable, but assorted highlights would include an elegantly solid
"Tuxedo Junction,"
the snaky
"Almost to Tulsa,"
the beautiful and buoyant
"Nashville Shuffle,"
"Leon's Guitar Boogie"
(there are three different versions of it here and each of them is great), but there really isn't a lame side to any of the cuts in this sequence, which sparkles, roars, swerves, and astounds from start to finish.
, at least in the group's mid-career incarnation, were simply an amazing unit. It's a wonder that
ever had nerve enough to stand up in front of them and tame them down. Thanks to
Bear Family Records
for putting all of these explosive sides together. ~ Steve Leggett