JOY, MOXIE & WISDOM

Tony Peyser
Mirror contributing writer

   It sounds like an unsold John Ritter pilot from 1985: the saga of an always-on-the-road band comprised of two sisters and the guy one of them dates. The reality is a whole lot better. The Waifs are an Aussie roots pop group whose spirited playing is as contagious as a bad cold on a Trans-Atlantic flight.
   Their often-autobiographical songs sketch a life of knocking around on the totem pole’s lower rungs where aspirations are as simple as getting a nice apartment and getting rid of a lousy job. There’s an unadulterated joy in their harmony-filled singing that’s sly and winning. The Waifs’ Sink Or Swim will drown any sorrows currently weighing you down. This trio from Down Under is something to flip over.
   Tim Krekel has recorded four solo albums but is best known for touring and session work as a guitarist, and writing top-charting hits for folks like Crystal Gale and Patty Loveless. On his new album, Krekel alternately sounds like Tom Petty recording at Muscle Shoals or Lynyrd Skynyrd if they’d gone to college. In either case, it’s smart country rock with a Southern slant. A song like “Fell Down In Memphis” will make you jump up for joy. Krekel’s titled this latest effort Happy Town and it will put you on Easy Street.
   Raspy-voiced Calvin Russell is a Lone Star singer who’s led a hardscrabble life and deserves to be mentioned right alongside a dead legend like Townes Van Zandt and a living icon like Willie Nelson. Russell has a following in Europe, but is more than ready for wider recognition back here in America. On the remarkable Rebel Radio, he tips his hat and sings some Van Zandt songs. “Ain’t Leavin’ Your Love” is as boisterous as an Irish pub on St. Patrick’s Day. On “Still Lookin’ For You,” he shares lessons that weren’t learned the easy way: “Ain’t much that I ain’t tried/fast living, slow suicide …” It has a haunting tone like the classic “Across The Borderline,” a terrific song from The Border, a terrible Jack Nicholson movie. That tune was co-written by three giants of modern music: Ry Cooder, John Hiatt and Jim Dickinson. That last fella produced two albums in the 1990s by an Austin cowboy named … Calvin Russell. If I connect any more dots, I may get drafted by Homeland Security.
   You can buy Sink Or Swim at www.musictoday.com for $14. Miles Of Music has Happy Town for $12.50 and Amazon has Rebel Radio for $16.98.
   *If you had plans for June 27, cancel them: The Waifs will be at The Knitting Factory. And on July 1, go see Tom Freund at Viva Cantina in Burbank.
   * The Goofy Band Name Of The Week is … Beatnik Termites.