Magic Tricks with Music

Tony Peyser
Mirror contributing writer

   There are a couple of live tracks at the end of Alameda County Line, the third album by those Bay Area honky tonk whiz kids, Red Meat. After a solid cover of "The Streets Of Baltimore," some people in the audience shout out the name of their favorite Red Meat song and the band promises to play it a little later on. When you have a song that crowds are literally crying out to hear, you know you’re doing something right.
   This is Red Meat’s third album and it’s their best which is saying something since the first two are pretty darn good. Alameda County Line is produced by Dave Alvin who corralled band mate Rick Shea to play on the album. "Catfish Fry" is so buoyant and fun that it’s too bad that jump blues king Louis Jordan isn’t around to sing it with them. "Buckeye," a smooth instrumental driven by Max Butler’s pedal-steel guitar, starts out like traditional country but briefly takes a sharp turn and manages to echo both The Grateful Dead and The Byrds before heading home to Bakersfield. It’s like a magic trick done with music. "Under The Wrench" is the auto-erotic saga of a man deeply in love with his 1964 Dodge Dart which needs a lot of repairs. If you have an old car, it will make you give it a hug --- and maybe an oil change, too. 
   The one woman in the group is Jill Olson whose solo album from 1996, The Gal Who Would Be King, I raved about last year. If Red Meat were "Seinfeld," she’d be Elaine, even though her black frame glasses make her look more like Janeane Garofalo. Olson’s "Midwest Blues" has these great opening lines: "I could drive all night if I just stole a car." Her vocal is up to her lyrics in the stirring "Sweet Song" and her singing on "This Property Is Condemned" is also right on the money. 
   This song was co-written with Scott Young who penned most of the songs on the album, including the one I alluded to earlier. That tune is "Lolita." I don’t use this word often but it’s a classic. It’s hard to imagine a decade in the last fifty years where this song wouldn’t have found an audience. It’s smart but unpretentious, funny but heartfelt. I wish I could sit in the room and watch you hear it for the first time. All I’ll tell you is it deals with a man’s unique solution to having an ex-girlfriend’s name tattooed on his arm. No less remarkable is that it does all this in just over three minutes. 
   "Lolita" appeared on Red Meat’s 1997 album but Alvin insisted on taking another whack at it. And you can’t blame him. There just aren’t many songs --- or girls --- like "Lolita." Amazon has Alameda County Line for $12.88.
   *** Tim Easton is a genial techno-folkie who I’ve praised in this column. He’ll be at The Troubador on February 15 singing songs from his new album, The Truth About Us. Last month, I went to his record release party at Largo and he’s definitely worth seeing live. 

   The Goofy Band Name Of The Week is ...Tyrants In Therapy.