Bombs, Truth, Songs & Tractors

Tony Peyser
Mirror contributing writer

   I looked over fifty CDs that were recently sent to me and thought: is there something really great here that I’m missing? Turns out there was: Time Bomb High School by Reigning Sound. It’s as if Bono had met The Boss in 1965 and started a band. Call it Dublin Garage Pop. Memphis-based songwriter and front man Greg Cartwright made several albums with The Oblivions. Oddly enough, oblivion is exactly where Reigning Sounds are not headed —- they just got a coveted opening act slot for The Hives. They open the album with an up tempo, one-of-a-kind cover of “Stormy Weather” which sounds like The Beatles rocking out at the Cavern Club in 1961. Once they’ve pulled that off, you realize they can do pretty much anything.
   Carla Olson was a key figure in the early days of roots rock with her band, The Textones. On her new album, she’s packing heat and not shooting blanks. Olson, who memorably collaborated with Gene Clark from The Byrds, gets things off on the right foot with “Loserville,” a song about never winning in which she manages to never whine. “The Ring of Truth,” the title track, is more somber with its look at life from the perspective of having been around the block more than once. “Never Fade Away” is a rocker like “Loserville” with these nervy and determined lines: “If you fall down seven times, you’ll have to get up eight/And never fade away …” We should all have such determination.
   “Look at how the moon fits in the sky.” Those words show someone reclaiming the basic order that was missing from their life.
   With its quiet piano, quirky tone and off-kilter melody, you’d think “Darkness Lifting” was sung by Aimee Mann or some Brit model-turned-singer —- not a girl from Texas. But that’s exactly what Kimmie Rhodes is. Produced by her husband Gabe Rhodes, Love Me Like A Song also features a pair of duets with Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris. This kinda tips you off that some famous folks are big fans. The title track, which she sings with Nelson, is one of those rare moments where you get it all right away but feel you’ve somehow heard it before. Maybe you just lived it before in your most romantic moments. Like good gossip, you’ll soon be dying to tell all your friends about Kimmie Rhodes.
   Zubot and Dawson sound like hosts of a nutty radio show in Canada. They are from North of the border but aren’t disc jockeys. Their second album, Tractor Parts: Further Adventures in Strang, is instrumental and acoustic with lots of guitars, mandolin and fiddle. At some points, it’s sort of bluegrass and New Age —- would that be Blue Age? At other points, it’s like Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli and Bela Fleck jamming with the “O Brother” house band. A minute and thirty seconds into “The Swaggering Dragon,” Zubot and Dawson suddenly get urban and funky and it sounds like the theme to “Shaft Goes To Appalachia.” (If that film had actually been made, it would have been shown recently on IFC’s tribute to blaxploitation.)  Half the fun is seeing what weird movies this wonderful music will conjure up in your head.
   Miles Of Music (www.milesofmusic.com) has Time Bomb High School and Love Me Like A Song for $13.50. Amazon has The Ring Of Truth for $13.98 and Tractor Parts for $15.98.
   Carla Olson is at The Derby on August 28 and Zubot and Dawson play The Knitting Factory on September 4.
   The Goofy Band Name Of The Week is … Pope Jane.