By Jim Rowland
With a fearsome reputation on the rock’n’roll/teddy boy/rockabilly live circuit, Tex & The Troubadours have put in the hard yards and the hard graft on the road for a fair few years now, and now they are set to release their well-earned debut album on the Tone River label. So get your best rock’n’roll clobber on and get ready for some ‘Troubadour Rock’.
The members of this southern England three-piece have quite a resume between them, having played in too many acts to fully list, but it includes the likes of Johnny Earl Band, The Frantix, The Rattlers, The Wildkats, The Firetones, Kenney Jones, Freak Power, Jackie Lynton, and even Van Morrison. That considerable talent and experience, together with a real passion for authentic old school rock’n’roll, has been pooled together with Tex & The Troubadours.
‘Troubadour Rock’ brings together twelve rockin’ cuts of pure, primal rock’n’roll, a mixture of covers and originals, with an organic feel and authentic production. From the footstompin’ up tempo rock’n’roll of ‘Sweet Rock’n’Roll’, ‘Surgery Number Nine’ and ‘Washing Machine Boogie’ to the slinky and sassy ‘Talking Woman Blues’ and ‘Didn’t Make It as A Stray Cat’ to the bluesy rock’n’roll of ‘Kansas City’ and ‘Move On Down the Line’, this is quality stuff guaranteed to get your toes tapping every time.
‘Troubadour Rock’ is the band’s own self-referencing little anthem and ‘Living On Rock’n’Roll’ is another Teddy Boy anthem proud as a peacock. One of the outstanding tracks for me is the clever re-working of the JJ Cale classic ‘Call Me The Breeze’, which really rocks here.
The rhythm section is rock solid and the guitar licks are top notch throughout. As I mentioned, the production by Doc Stewart is clever here too which manages to give the album such an authentic vibe that some of this could easily be mistaken for something recorded back in the 1950s.
This type of old school pure rock’n’roll continues to endure and appeal and Tex & The Troubadours are living proof of that.
- ‘Troubadour Rock‘ is out now.