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Based in Houston, Texas, The River Road Boys
are one of America’s premier Western Swing dance bands. The
Band includes Jim Johnson – vocals, Clyde Brewer – fiddle mandolin
& piano, Bill Dessens – fiddle & guitar, Herb Remington
– steel guitar, Shelly Lee Alley Jnr – rhythm guitar, Harlan
Kubos – bass and Tommy Howser – drums. The band was organized
in 1971by founding members Clyde and Tommy continuing the legacy
of traditional western swing music that was inspired by great
legends such as Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, Spade Cooley,
Clif Bruner, Milton Brown, Moon Mullican, and many others. Over
the years this fine band has played a whole range of music venues:
dance halls, clubs, concerts, rodeos, weddings, county fairs,
western swing festivals, the Astrodome, and most recently Caribbean
cruises.
With over 20 albums to their credit, The
River Road Boys release their latest C.D. Don’t Ever Take Our
Picture Down. 13 tracks to be found here are dedicated to Texas
western swing pioneer and piano pounder Moon Mullican. At the age
of 17 Clyde Brewer played fiddle with Moon Mullican’s band ‘The
Showboys’ and at times stood in for Mullican on piano.
Several cuts recorded by Mullican in the
1940’s include the title track “Don’t Ever Take My Picture Down”,
“Lonesome Hearted Blues” and “You Don’t Have To Be Baby To Cry”
(also a #6 hit for UK female duo The Caravelles 1963). Faron
Young had a Top Ten hit in the 70’s with Ray Giff’s lovely “Step
Aside” and here the River Road Boys will surely have you two-steppin’
around the living-room with their own sparkling swing version.
An old favourite going back to 1929 is given a new lease of
life with Jim Johnson drawing out the emotion with “My Mother’s
Eyes” while fittingly complimented by Bill Dessens’ rich guitar
fills. A step back with the Big Band era comes with “Sunny Side
Of The Street” and an instrumental version of “Sweet Georgia
Brown”. Another instrumental comes with the penultimate track
“On The Alamo” and the whole album is rounded off with a salute
to the band’s home-state with “Beautiful Texas/Waltz Across
Texas”.
I’ve seen these versatile guys perform on
several occasions over the past few years and their live
performances certainly out-perform their recordings which are all
top-draw. Another outstanding collection from the River Road Boys!
Don’t miss them when they play at a venue near you and don’t
forget to pick-up a copy of this excellent album
Don’t Ever Take Our
Picture Down..
Graham Lees Feb 2007
River
Road Boys
own website
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