CD Review: Matt Hoggatt, Sauce Boss

Matt Hoggatt, Hotter Than Fishgrease

 You’ve heard the story of Cinderella… After years of working her fingers to the bone, she catches the eye of Prince Charming and gets invited to the Ball? Move the story to the Deep South, make Cinderella a Cinder-fella and Prince Charming the King of the Parrot Heads and you’ve got the saga of Matt Hoggatt! A member of the Army National Guard and a policeman (Detective Sergeant when he handed in his badge just earlier this year), Matt got caught by the performing bug in 2005 and – acoustic guitar in tow – starting honing his craft in the bars and watering holes around his hometown of Gautier, Mississippi. It didn’t take long for Matt’s songwriting skills and homespun humor to start gaining him some accolades – including the American Songwriter Magazine Lyric Contest Award in 2010 and, again, in 2012. That last year, his winning entry was a song titled “Dear Jimmy Buffett”. Not only did the tune catch the attention of the judges at the American Songwriter Magazine contest, it also became a bit of a Youtube sensation, eventually making it to the ear of the song’s subject himself. Next thing Matt knew, he was joining Jimmy onstage at a show in Birmingham, Alabama, followed by a record deal on Jimmy’s Mailboat Records. His debut cd, titled “Hotter Than Fishgrease” was recorded live at various locations, including Jimmy’s sister Lucy’s place, Lulu’s at Homeport.

I mentioned Matt’s sense of humor and his cd is chock full of it, starting with the opening track, “Bullet in His Earnhardt”. It’s the story of what happens when a relationship goes awry and one party looks to cause the most psychological damage possible by going after the other’s most prized possession – in this case, “the picture of his fantasy”, autographed by the legendary Stock car driver.

Dale Earnhardt and Jimmy Buffett are not the only celebrities Hoggatt name checks on “Fishgrease”. From doublewides and Nascar on the opening track, Hoggatt moves to Gulf Coast  weather on track two with “The Ballad of Jim Cantore”.  As Matt sees it, if you see Cantore come to town, you know it’s time to head to higher ground.

Pretty women - and fried Brim - get the Hoggatt treatment on the next number, the title track “Hotter Than Fishgrease”.  “Serving up heaven on a paper plate, when suppertime comes I can hardly wait. Something ‘bout her recipe gets me hotter’n fishgrease.” “Kiss My Past” takes a skewed look at modern technology with lines like “Remember when… Twitter was the sound of a bunch of birds, Blackberries went in a pie not a purse..?”

And then there’s the centerpiece of the cd, the track that got him invited to share the stage with the man from Fairhope. Matt’s open letter to Jimmy – “Dear Jimmy Buffett”  - is the autobiographical tale of a struggling Southern songwriter and Buffet fan longing for his idol’s life, with his “airplanes and restaurant chains”, sung over a “Living and Dying in ¾ Time” groove. It also proved prophetic, with the line “I could sure use a record deal this year.”

Other stand out tracks on Hotter Than Fishgrease include “Blender Bender”, about enlisting the help of that particular kitchen apparatus to “chase your troubles goodbye with a little Patron” and the truth-telling “Really Drinking Beer”.

The cd ends with Matt being introduced by his new boss live on stage at a show in Tallahassee, Florida, where he performs his signature song followed by Jimmy’s response, “Dear Matt Hoggatt”.

I had the chance to hang with Matt recently, at the Atlanta Parrot Head tailgate before the Jimmy Buffett show in Atlanta. I found him to be just as funny, humble, and self-deprecating in person as he is on his debut cd. And that just gives me another reason to wish him a long and prosperous career… now that he has his record deal.

 

Sauce Boss, Live At The Green Parrot

This cd isn’t brand spankin’ new, but it’s new to me – arriving in the mail just as I sat down to write this month’s reviews. Recorded live in Key West it’s the Boss in all his rip-roaring glory in front of an appreciative audience, at the famous bar where he holds court each year during Meeting Of The Minds.

If you’re not familiar with Bill Wharton, aka the “Sauce Boss”, he hails from the Panhandle area of Florida. Legend (and his website) tell the story of discovering an old National Steel guitar in his front yard one day back in the 1970’s. One of the first songs he wrote on it, “Let The Big Dog Eat”, was featured in the 1986 film, “Something Wild”, and his fame among Parrot Heads was sealed when Jimmy Buffett name dropped him in his song, “I Will Play For Gumbo”, from Beach House On The Moon (“The sauce boss does his cookin' on the stage, stirrin' and a singing for his nightly wage”). Nowadays, Bill travels throughout the South, laying down his Country Boogie and Blues while simultaneously mixing up a pot of his signature Gumbo on stage. It’s his Gumbo – which he happily shares with his audience after each performance - that has gotten him exposure on tv channels like CNN and the Food Network.

Unlike many live albums that feature long-winded song introductions, Sauce Boss Live at The Green Parrot cuts right to the chase, putting the emphasis where it should be – on the music, especially his fire-breathing slide guitar work. Stand out cuts include the opening track, “Killer Tone”, “Smuggler’s Cove” – with some of the hottest guitar picking on the cd, the rocking shuffle of “Lucky Charm” and the album closer, “Cathead Biscuit Gospel”. He also tears into an extended version of  “Let The Big Dog Eat” that must have had the walls sweating at the Green Parrot and shares some of his culinary secrets on “Gumbo Recipe”.