Fans of America's longest-lived cult band,
NRBQ
, will instantly recognize the names of the two principals here as founding members of the group:
Terry Adams
has been the keyboardist, guiding light and resident eccentric genius of the
Q
since the late '60s and guitarist
Steve Ferguson
appeared on the band's first couple of albums before being replaced by
Big Al Anderson
.
Adams
and
Ferguson
never lost touch, and on occasion
has turned up at a
gig, much to the delight of the hardcore. Since
never really veered from its original vision -- melding together all that is great about American indigenous roots music (early
rock & roll
, vintage
R&B
,
country
when it was
, classic Top 40 and pre-'80s
pop
avant-garde
jazz
boogie-woogie
novelty
tunes and whatever else feels right at the time) and then obliterating the lines between all of those genres -- it should come as no surprise that this duo project feels like a long-lost
album. The track list flits merrily from
doo wop
(
the Orioles
'
"It's Too Soon to Know"
) to
Thelonious Monk
's
"Blue Monk"
to
Jimmie Rodgers
"Mule Skinner Blues"
Tiny Bradshaw
"South of the Orient"
). There are also
originals (and vocals from both), but no matter what the pair takes on, it comes out sounding musically inventive, unpredictably open-ended and tons o' fun.
drummer
Tom Ardolino
gives the sessions the same giddily ambling looseness that he brings to the band, and a horn section featuring
Donn Adams
Terry
's brother, punctuates the mixes with a soulful strut. Several tracks, not only the
Monk
tune but the
Dixieland
-esque
"Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone"
(done previously by
Louis Armstrong
Count Basie
and others) and the opening
"Peanut Vendor,"
cut before by, again,
Armstrong
, plus
Duke Ellington
and others, tilt toward the jazzy end of the spectrum, and even those that don't, such as
Hank Williams
"Hey Good Lookin',"
the
staple (a big hit for
Tommy Tucker
originally)
"Hi Heel Sneakers,"
' own
"Knucklehead,"
often take off on unexpected adventures. ~ Jeff Tamarkin