Jerry Hayes
From:
Virginia Beach, Va.
|
Posted 28 Jun 2002 7:52 am |
|
I just received a copy of a new Promo CD by the great Boomer Castleman of Nashville (formerly of LA). For anyone who's not familiar with him, Boomer was the inventor of the Bigsby Palm Pedal string bending unit. He uses different form of the same unit which he devised but his has six (6) levers and he uses them all, not just in single bends but in combinations which are sometimes mind boggling to say the least. The last CD I reviewed was Boomer's instrumental CD but this one is all vocals with one instrumental (Orange Blossom Special). The first cut is the old Merle Haggard standard Workin' Man Blues. Boomer takes this one to a faster pace than Haggard's and does a great solo featuring the benders and some of his trademark double stops. Let me say here before we go on that Boomer is a thumbpick/finger picker which is hard to believe when you hear some of his single string stuff.
Next is the great old tune "Since I Fell for You" in which Boomer does and amazing vocal complete with the falsetto parts and everything. I didn't realize that he sang this good. I looked at the CD cover and then I realized that his hair is very curley! Hmmmmmmmmmmm, maybe there's some questionable ancestry there! The instrumental break is done with distortion and has some great ideas for ballad work on guitar. I like the trills, hammer-ons, etc. The instrumentation in the background is sparse but you don't miss it. The bass and drums on all cuts are by husband and wife musicians Dave and Lois Baskind. They keep a solid bottom going on every cut. She's a solid drummer for sure and Dave adds some very cool bass lines to round everything out.
The next cut is the Ricky Skaggs hit Hummingbird in which Boomer nails the Albert Lee type intro which was on the RS record but makes it his own. There are two verse and chorus solo's on this one and a lot of good stuff for you guitar players to try to steal. I'm going to record it on tape so I can slow it down half speed and see if I can cop some of the stuff. I can't even think this fast, let alone play that fast!!
The fourth cut is the old Bob Wills standard Roly Poly. Wait'll you hear these lyrics! They ain't the Will's words at all. It starts out like: Roly Poly, daddy's former fatty! And goes on about the kid losing weight, sweating with the oldies with Richard Simmons, and a great play on the theme. I'm going to copy these lyrics down and start doing this in my band. This tune has two breaks on it but they're both different. The first one stays near the melody at first but when it goes to the four chord all Hell breaks loose. There are single note runs mixed with double and triple stops but it all blends together like when you throw all kinds of ingredients in a blender and it comes out a smooth mixture. That's what happens here for sure. The second solo is more intricate if that's possible and shows off the man's industrial strength chops to perfection.
The next tune is the old Ray Price standard "Heartaches by the Number" but with a new twist. The verses are 2/4 and the chorus 4/4 unlike Price's which is 4/4 all the way. The intro to this one slays me. Boomer shows what the palm pedals can do. You'd think this was a pedal steel kicking off this song but it's a 6 string pedal guitar. The husband and wife rhythm section really shine on this cut but the star of the show is Boomer's use of his bending device. The backup licks are to die for.
Gotta go and finish this on another post. |
|
