By Brian Rock
Robbie Fulks & Linda Gail Lewis get wild on their new collaboration, Wild! Wild! Wild! Robbie Fulks brings his critically acclaimed songwriting sensibilities and Linda Gail Lewis brings the “Killer” piano chops she learned from her older brother Jerry Lee Lewis. Together they create a raging retro sound that incorporates Rockabilly, Country, Dixieland, and Southern Gospel. The net effect is like being a fly on the wall at Sun Studios circa 1955.
“Round Too Long” lives up to the album’s title with a wild, Rockabilly romp about hard living and hell raising. Lewis belts out over her audacious, boogie woogie piano, “If it’s a song about hard, hard living, it’s the song I’m living in. If a rough road goes there, you can bet I’ve been.” Defiant throughout, she continues, “Ever since I was a child I was fast and wild. I guess I’m a wild one still, ‘cause when they say you can’t – you know I will!”
With a brash, unapologetic vocal style like Wanda Jackson at her fiercest, Linda Gail Lewis belts out songs like a seasoned road house veteran. She unleashes her full vocal fury on “Wild Wild Wild,” “Who Cares,” “Boogie Woogie Country Gal,” “Your Red Wagon,” and “It Came From The South.” Robbie Fulks joins in the fun as well, adding his cool “Jim Lauderdale meets John Anderson,” Country-tinged vocals as a perfect counterbalance to Lewis’ fiery style.
Even when they let off the accelerator, they still make beautiful music together. The County ballads, “I Just Lived A County Song,” “That’s Why They Call It Temptation and “Hard Luck Louisiana,” are all masterfully done with subtle touches of steel guitar, fiddle and piano. The former of these includes the David Allen Coe worthy line, “Excuse me if I’m late for Heaven, I just lived a Country song.” Robbie Fulks even gets the vocal spotlight on that tune and on the beautifully, soulful, “Foolmaker.”
Listening to this collaboration of musical titans, you get the sense they had as much fun making it as you have listening to it. Wild! Wild! Wild! is definitely Fun! Fun! Fun!
robbiefulks.com | lglmusic.com | buy
Brian Rock
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