Ponty Bone
Fantasize
Loudhouse Records LHR 2002


by Bonny Holder

It's pretty impossible to feel sad while this CD is in play. Ponty Bone (his friends call him "pb") has been a 20-year staple on the Austin scene, and before that, Lubbock. He's played with most of the Texas greats, including Joe Ely, and is currently the leader of the mighty Squeezetones.

Mr. Bone (I can't resist) plays a little blues, a little rock, a little zydeco accordion all sparkled with touches of world beat. More than one writer has described his style as "soul accordion".

I like the hints of Mexico, France & Spain that I hear in his songs. On this particular CD, the instrumentals ­ "Midnight Sun" (Johnny Mercer) and "Macumba" (Ponty Bone) ­ really stand out as tunes that every party band should be learning right now.

On the title cut, "Fantasize", Smoky Joe Miller's baritone sax rules. Ponty's more than adequate ensemble, the Squeezetones, include Spencer Jarmon on guitar and vocal on "I Must Be Dreaming", Wash Hamilton on bass, and Mike Gersmann on drums. Guests include the Texana Dames (Charlene & Conni Hancock and Traci Lamar), David Hernandez on trumpet, Booka Michel on percussion and Danny Roy Young & Tansen Jarmon on keyboards. Andrew Halbreich fills in on Hawaiian steel guitar, and there are others that make this CD such a treat.

While most of the lyrics are the stuff that makes a party band a party band, (words you can dance to)there are also lines to remember, such as these from "Just Like Home", which pretty much explains why ol' pb keeps on tickin':

There was pickup trucks & hotrods, up & down the road
Angels & banditos they were hanging around the door
Inside my band was loud & rockin, outta control
You know, I just couldn't keep from thinkin',"it's just like home."

I took a break & I went outside, the moon was full but sad.
A little girl came up to me and asked for an autograph
I heard her boyfriend call her name, and she began to bare her soul
Hope I said it all, for above my name, I wrote "just like home."

People are where you find 'em, there is Texas, but there is France
They all put one leg at a time into whatever they call "pants".
The rich may have a heart of stone, and the poor have a heart of gold
But if you look real hard you'll see right through it
And it's just like home.

Ponty Bone's website address is: www.pontybone.com



You can contact Bonny Holder at bonny-at-rockzilla.net

 
View My Guestbook
Sign My Guestbook