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| Jimmy LaFave Bohemia Beat Records by William Michael Smith |
| Well, we come from down in Texoma In case you are one of those types who needs to be clubbed over the head with any intended subtleties, let there be no mistake about it: Jimmy LaFave has one foot in Texas and one foot in Oklahoma. Okemah to Stillwater With all the current hoo-hah about "Texas music" and the "Texas sound," Austin-based, Wills Point, Texas-born LaFave may be one of Texas music's best kept secrets, although he's no secret at all in Oklahoma where he's been treated like a state treasure since he broke onto the Stillwater music scene back in the days when Garth Brooks used to open for him. On "Texoma," LaFave sticks close to home, recording in Austin with his regular sidekicks. The result is one of those honest, instantly familiar records that you'll be singing along with the second time you play it and will still be playing years from now.
I heard the opening song, 'Bad Bad Girl,' while driving to work one day last week and was knocked out. I've long been an admirer of LaFave's work, but I had never heard him in quite this "super-cool" mode. On 'Bad Bad Girl', LaFave tips his stylistic and compositional hat to a fellow Texoman, gravelly voiced blues man J.J. Cale. A mid-tempo blues, the treatment echoes Cale with minimalist laconic vocals, a dark, full bottom within a narrow groove, and Wilson's sparse, biting slide guitar for accent. The song's subject female is one of those "bad bad girls" we can't seem to leave alone, no matter the calamities she leaves in her wake. LaFave paints her for us in various situations and locales, but whether it's New York City or Chicago or Dallas or simply home in bed, "she gets in trouble every day." She went down to New Orleans for the Mardi Gras time Perhaps the most engaging and surprising cut on the record is LaFave's reinvention of the old hippie anthem, 'San Francisco' (you know, "If you're going to San Francisco, be sure and wear some flowers in your hair, that 'San Francisco'). LaFave has altered the phrasings and upped the tempo, allowing bassist Will Landin and drummer Eric Hanson to drive the song while LaFave (rhythm guitar), Wilson and pianist David Webb airily color in the spaces. This track is rocking, but the sound is nimble and clean, making the track seem light on its feet. If this track won't put a smile on your face before the first chorus comes around, refill your Prozac prescription and get back to us. LaFave keeps the feel-good, throw-away-the-Prozac vibe going with another original composition, 'This Glorious Day.' One of the few times LaFave reaches into the producer's bag of tricks on the record, he adds just the right hint of gospel music by adding the Burns Sisters on backing vocals. The sound is full and sweet. "Poor Man's Dream" is an Allman Brothers style blues-rocker, with Wilson playing some southern boogie slide guitar and LaFave doing some of his usual red dirt philosophizing: Find a little country angel, love her on up LaFave lets Webb have the reins on the boogie-woogie novelty number, 'Elvis Loved His Mama,' and Webb shows he can hang with anyone when it comes to rocking barrelhouse piano pounding. With the Burns Sisters on beehive-hairdo'd, hoop-skirt-wearin' backing vocals again and Landin free to walk his bass, this infectious, tongue in cheek cut really rocks. On the packed full of meaning ballad 'Woodie Guthrie,' LaFave pays tribute to the old Dust Bowl political minstrel and Oklahoma musical legend. You speak out of turn Much of "Texoma" is essentially an uptempo, good-vibes, no-more-Prozac, rocking record, but when LaFave slips into that sad, sentimental love song mode, whether he's singing an original composition or covering some of the more sophisticated works of great songwriters, get out your crying towels and be ready to lose your lover. LaFave has always been a clever wordsmith and he's never been in better form than on the soft, poignant 'Never Is a Moment.' If you hear music in the wind As good as LaFave's original works have been through five previous albums, he may be best known as an interpreter, and no Jimmie LaFave record would be complete without a Bob Dylan cover. Never one to pick an obvious or easy tune to work with, LaFave has seldom been in better form than on the brooding and delicately accented 'Emotionally Yours.' Webb's piano playing is again superb. In his rendition of Nashville songwriter Gretchen Peters' 'On a Bus to St. Cloud,' (originally recorded by Trisha Yearwood) with Webb playing a quiet but dramatic piano line, LaFave emotes a from-me-to-you, one-on-one feel that even the highly talented Yearwood failed to achieve on her version. LaFave has an uncanny ability to climb inside an emotionally charged ballad and hit all the necessary aural buttons required to deliver a convincing performance. For a final act, LaFave and Webb revive the obscure and hard to tame Jimmy Webb tune, 'The Moon's a Harsh Mistress.' LaFave's voice combines the requisite prettiness for such a song and a world-weary rasp absolutely perfect for mining the emotional depths of Webb's composition without letting the performance become a sappy, overwrought, overacted, Streisandish. As the last track on the cd, the tune, with its sparse and haunting piano outro, makes a perfect denouement to the record. As the last piano note fades, the silence seems to add profundity and weight to the musical performance. Nowadays, LaFave is probably a bigger "star" in Europe than he is here in his home state -- and that is wrong, wrong, wrong. The man has monumental talents as a singer, as a songwriter, as an interpreter of other writers' work, as a player, and as a producer, and all these are on display on the lengthy "Texoma". He handles a heartfelt ballad with ease, simplicity and infinite grace. And on rockers, well, he rocks with the best. Back in the days of vinyl, this would have been a double album. At sixteen tracks and 62 minutes, this may be more music than the average attention span can handle. It is certainly more quality music than we probably have a right to buy on one cd for $15. But if there was ever an artist intent on delivering the highest quality, lyrically fulfilling product, it is Mr. LaFave. While I loved the live, rough, bootlegged sound of his previous release, "Trail," this is LaFave's best studio record yet. Contact William Michael Smith at: wms-at-rockzilla.net | ||
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LaFave is one of those rare artists who can paint a masterpiece with the smallest box of crayons. Reunited in the studio with guitarist Larry Wilson, LaFave has produced 16 meaty tracks that, like all LaFave albums, is a mix of rockers and ballads, originals and covers, funk and finesse, big cities and red dirt roads, rockin' roadhouses and contemplative coffee shops. Eschewing all but the production basics, LaFave has constructed a record with numerous textures, tones and moods, yet a record that lacks any sense of artsy overproduction.
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