Attending
Tommy Talton's live shows recently
has been quite like visiting a community garden every week or so, just
to see what has popped up out of the ground. He has germinated,
nurtured, and developed some of the finest music of his 45 year career
during the past year. Talton has obviously given considerable thought to
"Let's Get Outta Here," and the songs that distinguished themselves
enough to be included on this CD. The notes and individual musical
elements created on this recording aren't stacked like cordwood, or the
layers of a cake, they mesh together perfectly as if every note depends
on every other for their very existence. David
Keith, engineer, co-producer with Talton, percussionist, and
owner of Gintown Studio in Graysville, AL is responsible in part for the
quality, and intricacy of this recording.
While following the path of Duane Allman's
early recordings, Talton, and his band Cowboy
were some of my earliest discoveries. Talton's music has constantly
graced my turntable, 8-track player, cassette deck, or CD player since.
As a fan from day one, the collective respect already given "Let's Get
Outta Here" only confirms my earliest conviction.
Great music should take the listener far away from everyday life. This
album undeniably does that. The CD opens with the title track, Let's
Get Outta Here, and whisks the listener down I-26 in this catchy,
horn-driven, foot-tapping, breezy nod to Carolina's Beach Music scene.
Talton's solid rhythm and blues roots shine here, and long-time friend
Kelvin Holly steps out on lead
guitar. You Can't Argue With Love was co-written with
Rick Hirsh of
Wet Willie fame, and is the only track on this album not
written wholly by Talton. This track lures the listener across the
Atlantic to meet England's Royal Family, and showcases Talton's soaring
slide guitar, and formidable vocals. The arrangement, and thickness of
the production here is reminiscent of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound
recordings.
The next track, Dream Last Night, is meditative proof of Talton's
ability to wrap the listener in a warm blanket of notes, and coax them
to follow him wherever he chooses to go. Stern warning and disclosure
here: Don't close your eyes during this track, because you could just
wake-up anywhere...or nowhere at all. Talton's trademark slide guitar
and Rick Hirsch's ethereal guitar coexist like smoke rings on a windless
day.
Make
it Through the Rain brings lifelong friend
and Cowboy band mate, Scott Boyer,
onboard to sing harmony vocals for the first of several tracks. This
heartfelt ballad showcases the delicacy of Talton's songwriting, and the
gracefulness of his acoustic guitar styling. This track is a fall day
stroll down a leaf covered country road in the mountains of North
Carolina. The listener can almost hear rain dripping from the eaves in
this subtle masterpiece.
Slacabamorinico
is a real-life story (Google Slacabamorinico if you don't believe me),
set to a rollicking New Orleans, Second Line, horn, bass, and piano
driven parade march. This track dances the listener through the streets
of NOLA, and eventually on through the streets of Mobile, AL. Talton is
joined again by Boyer on vocals, as well as an array of former band
mates and friends, including Allman Brothers and Rolling Stones
keyboardist Chuck Leavell, and human
metronome, Bill Stewart (drums). The
horn section here including Chad Fisher
(trombone), Shane Porter (trumpet),
and Brad Guin (saxaphone), amply
challenge Leavell's finessing barrelhouse piano. This track also
includes the nastiest, funky four-note guitar lick since Blackhearted
Woman.
Where is the World reaches out to blues, and
rock fans, but also exudes an edgy, mindful folk, and Americana vibe. Talton is joined by old
friends, Kelvin Holly (rhythm guitar), Paul
Hornsby (organ), Bill Stewart (drums),
Brandon Peeples (bass), and Chuck Leavell (piano), making
this track musically pristine. Recent Rain again finds Talton
tugging at the listeners heart lyrically, and with notes that cry
cinematic with this gut-wrenching ballad about a great love found, and
lost. Talton, the master of moods, consoles that all of this heartache
shall wash away, just like the Recent Rain.
The
classic, electric slide driven Sunk Down in Mississippi sweeps
the listener down the big muddy to the Mississippi line. Here he
chronicles Robert Johnson's fatal, true-life story, explaining that it
really was not the poison, or pneumonia that killed Johnson; it was the
woman that turned his head. Talton electrifies six strings in a musical
tornado that testifies to some of Johnson's, and Talton's, finest
emotionally gritty guitar work.
If Your Attitude is Funky
(nobody wants your
monkey) is Talton's adaptation of the old tavern anecdote that begins,
"Sure she's gorgeous, but you can bet your last dollar that somewhere
there is a guy that is glad she's gone." Talton tells this story with a
conviction born of perspective.
Half of What She Is introduces the listener
to Talton's boyhood home of Winter Park, Florida. This track is
obviously a love song written for, and about Talton's mother, Julie
Talton. The song fades into history with a recording that Talton
unearthed, after his mother's passing, of her talking about his father;
explaining how much she loved him, and how happy they were. Simply
breathtaking.
Coil Talton up tightly, and watch what happens as he concludes the
album with Give a Little Bit...a tribute to old friend, Levon
Helm, who originally covered this funk masterpiece. Talton's wah-wah
slide and Tony Giordano's bending, twisting keyboards intertwine on this
track that features the rest of the original Tommy Talton Band; Brandon
Peeples, bass, and David Keith on percussion. This track is the only cut
not recorded by David Keith. It was laid down at
Studio 1093 in Athens, GA by former Capricorn wizard,
Jim Hawkins.
What is it they say? If you stay in the public eye long enough the truth
is revealed. "Let's Get Outta Here" reveals volumes about Tommy Talton;
as a man, a musician, and as a writer. If you are looking for a dose of
nostalgia, look elsewhere.
Talton is a
survivor...an exception to the rule.
"Let's Get Outta Here" is available at