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Tom Morrell & The Time Warp Tophands

Jugglin' Cats

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This is the 11th volume of how the west was swung form Tom Morrell & The Time Warp Tophands. Tom "The Wolf" Morrell is one of country music's topmost steel guitar players, with his feet planted deeply into western swing. He says the album title came after playing a taped hour-long TV show a few years ago. " Due to the ineptness of the man in charge, it took seven hours to film the one hour show." As he left the auditorium an old buddy Bob Sullivan, who was engineering the show remarked, "That man was harder than jugglin' cats!" This remark stuck with "The Wolf" over the years and with the difficulties of importing his four songbirds Trudy Fair, Maryann Price, Chris O'Connell and Rebecca Kilgore, "coupled all of that with rounding up these derelict musicians who are scattered all over the place in various states of soberness or intoxication, depending on how you look at it, Jugglin' Cats is a very appropriate name."

The 15 tracks assembled here contain some of the finest country music and western swing that you are likely to hear. 'Texas Sandman' sees an exhausted knee-high cowhand drifting away into dreamland for one more roundup. The cowboy theme continues with 'Lady From 29 Psalms', while the instrumental 'Wagon Wheels' carries us across the open prairie with "The Wolf" substituting his usual steel guitar for the dobro. Lovely swing instrumentals of 'I Thought About You' and Hammerstein/Rogers 'Surrey With A Fringe On Top' are just a thrill. As the lady makes it clear that 'I Told You I Love Now Get Out', she then pleads 'Baby Don't Go Away Mad'.

A salute to the King Of Western Swing…Bob Wills, comes with 'What Makes Bob Holler' and a tip of the hat towards George Strait offers 'If You Ain't Lovin Then You Ain't Livin'. As Jugglin Cats draws near its close we are treated to fine swing versions of 'Slowboat To China' and the picking of an acoustic guitar opens an extravagant version of 'It Happened In Monterey', with the whole thing being brought to a close with a zinging version of the 'Trolley Song'. An album that simply sits you on Cloud Nine!

For more details www.westernswing.net 

 

 

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