From New Wave to Old Country

Tony Peyser
Mirror contributing writer

   You can hear echoes of Steely Dan and Ben Folds on Goodbye Girl Friday’s charming new album, Mr. and Mrs. Considering those influences, this jazzy New York-based group could have called themselves Dan Ben or Ben Dan. Either way, Goodbye Girl Friday is so skilled at piano-driven pop that it’s worth popping open a bottle of champagne to celebrate them. There are an embarrassing number of good tracks from the easygoing funk of “Big Red Bong” to “Mr. Rainy Days” with its wildly catchy chorus. Vocalist, main songwriter and keyboard player David Sherman used to listen to Todd Rundgren and sounds a bit like him, too. If that 1970s maverick rock icon ever hears this CD, I bet he’ll become a big Goodbye Girl Friday fan.
   Harry Manx is a guitar whiz who’s played with Grammy-winning Indian musician V.M. Bhatt. Kevin Breit is a guitar whiz who’s played with Grammy-nominated, half-Indian musician Norah Jones. Jubilee, Manx and Breit’s first joint effort, musically mixes Far Eastern ragas and Southern blues. Manx did this on his own on Wise and Otherwise, one of my favorite CDs from last year. I love the Eastern-sounding intro that precedes Manx’s gentle vocal on the Country & Western chestnut, “Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues.” These fellow Canadians crank it up a bit on Sleepy John Estes’ “Diving Duck Blues” whose smoky vibe suggests John Fogerty hunkering down with the aforementioned Steely Dan. And Breit’s sweet instrumental, “When Abbott Met Costello,” would have made Django Reinhardt smile. Like Ry Cooder and Manuel Galban’s recent Mambo Sinuendo, Manx and Breit’s Jubilee creates world music that makes our world a better one.
   Almost You: The Songs Of Elvis Costello is a tribute album done mostly by alt-country performers and they do a heck of a job, especially on the down tempo compositions. Hem’s version of “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes” is one of the best covers I’ve ever heard. Without going for anything remotely showy, the gifted vocalist Sally Ellyson quietly and perfectly evokes the song’s story of a unique bargain involving some divinely desired footwear. The Damnations similarly bring forth an elegant spirit on “Still Too Soon To Know.” And Kev Russell from The Gourds’ take on “Indoor Fireworks” proves if you scratch a New Waver, you may find their inner honky tonker.
   In a similar vein, local bohemian singer-songwriter Eleni Mandell has unleashed her inner Nashville girl. Country For True Lovers shows she has the chops for heartbreak as well as being a hipster. Mandell’s rounded up some of Los Angeles’ top country-rock usual suspects including producer-guitarist Tony Gilkyson, drummer Don Heffington and newly minted solo artist Kip Boardman. A highlight is the heartbreaking traditional “Kingsport Town.” There’s a geographic reference in the original which Mandell alters ever so slightly and makes this song forever her own: “Who’s gonna kiss my California lips?” For some time, Mandell has had the letters “TW” following her. But instead of just being compared to Tom Waits, the versatile Mandell can now be compared to Tammy Wynette.
   CD Baby has Mr. and Mrs. for $10. Amazon has Jubilee for $16.98. Miles Of Music has Almost You: The Songs Of Elvis Costello for $14.50 and Country For True Lovers for $12.50.
   On February 7, Eleni Mandell is at The Derby and Ramsay Midwood hightails it from Austin to play the House Of Blues. On. February 9, Gina Scipione from New Jersey makes her Los Angeles debut at Genghis Cohen.
   The Goofy Band Name Of The Week is … Bed Bug Bible Gang.