A Heap of Good Stuff

Tony Peyser
Mirror contributing writer

   When Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash recorded a song called “Monte Carlo,” it was about the car that’s been around since the 1970s, not the city that’s been around since the 1860s. It’s blue jeans, bluer hearts and dirt roads in the land of the free and the home of the twang —- The Blasters meets Gram Parsons. A critic who said their new album, Distance Between, was a little too much roots rock and not enough Johnny Cash is missing the point. Just because they call themselves Bastard Sons Of You Know Who, it doesn’t mean they have to wear all-black and cover “I Walk The Line.” It does, however, mean they’re inspired by him to do what they do, not what he’s already done. This is strong stuff —- a shot of Johnny Walker Red in a world of Fresca.
   Living Stereo is a solo effort from Mike Barfield, a member of The Hollisters who hail from Houston. It includes a sizzling cover of James Brown’s “Signed, Sealed and Delivered” and a choogling version of Joe Tex’s tasty “You Got What It Takes.” Barfield’s like a classic old pick-up that actually gets driven, not just taken to weekend car shows by middle-aged guys with pot bellies, zip up jackets and no social life. It’s Lone Star blues with tattoos or, as I like to call it, honky funk.
   If Waz was around when John Hughes was making 1980s teen movies, his songs would have wound up on several of those soundtracks at the moment when Molly Ringwald finally hooks up with the cute guy of her dreams. In the five songs on his Mine To Remember E.P., Waz shows he can rock it up with a song like “Nothing Last Forever” and then crank it down on a quieter and moodier composition like the title track. Along with Marc Dauer of Jukebox Junkies, Waz is another guy who’s recorded with Pete Yorn who’s making a name for himself on his own.
   The Hellecasters’ Essential Listening Volume 1 is an all-instrumental trip to guitar heaven where even St. Peter has a Stratocaster. I cranked this CD up and it knocked me out. “Disintonation” is like surfing a 30-foot wave and driving 110 on the freeway at the same time. I kept waiting for somebody to throw me a life preserver or give me a ticket.
   Bobby Bare Jr’s solo debut, Young Criminals’ Starvation League, has the muscle of alternative rock and the down home smarts of alternative country. “Dig Down” is a sly look at how all the good music material has already been copped by the likes of Pete Townshend, Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles. It’s “American Pie” as if written today by a night shift clerk at a 7-11 who’s got his guitar stashed behind the counter under the Slim Jims.  “The Monk At The Disco” sounds like a Gary Larson cartoon caption. It’s a screwy combination of sincere prayer and girls without underwear. If John Prine and Warren Zevon had ever collaborated on a song, this is what it would have sounded like it. You’ll feel naked without Bare Jr. in your CD collection.
   Miles Of Music (www.milesofmusic.com) has Distance Between and Living Stereo for $12, Mine To Remember for $7 and The Young Criminals’ Starvation League for $13.50. CDNow has Essential Listening Volume 1 for $17.98.
   In last week’s column, Tim Carroll was mistakenly called Tom Carroll. Taking a cue from corporate America, I blame this error on my accountants.
   Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash will be at The Knitting Factory on August 27th.
   The Goofy Band Name Of The Week is …Drunks With Guns.