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”.

 

CD Reviews: John Friday and Yankee Jack

John Friday, Coastal Cowboy

John Friday is a self–described "Tropical Balladeer and Displaced Pirate" who originally hails from Maryland. The singer/songwriter's eclectic background includes a stint as a crabber on the Chesapeake Bay, as well as assorted attempts at college, studying subjects from biology to business. After an injury ended his thirteen year Army career, Friday settled in the Naples area of Florida and started writing songs and performing in the local bars. In 2009, he released his first full length cd, "Coastal Dreamin'", which included the rollicking ditties “Ain’t Missing a Thing” and “Rita’s Going Wild”.

That’s the intro to an interview I did with John, aka “The Teddy Bear of Trop Rock”, a couple years back. Since then, I have had a number of chances to hear John play live – including a memorable House Concert in Atlanta where he played…and played…and played…for over four hours, mixing in his impressive collection of originals with some creative cover songs. That event, hosted by a group I co-founded called the Atlanta Trop Rock Alliance, was also the first place I heard some of the tunes that would wind up on his latest cd, “Coastal Cowboy” – also a collection of mostly originals with a couple of carefully chosen covers..

The cd kicks off with the rocking party starter, “Beachfront” where John describes a typical Parrot Head pot luck: “You bring the tequila, I’ll bring the salt and limes”.  The next track, “Home”, brims with optimism and positive vibes – over a shuffling guitar track and 60’s Soul organ fills. It’s hard to hold a frowny face when you have a church choir singing, “So happy” over and over! As someone who can’t wait to ditch the city life for a Salty Piece of Land, the whistful “Coastal Dreamin’”, track three on the cd, has become the soundtrack to my life – as well as a source of inspiration. Like the song says, “…these coastal dreams are all I need to get me through the day”.

Other stand out cuts include the title track, which jumbles together images of Cowboys and Sailboats (sort of a Trop Rock version of Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead Or Alive”) and “Kisses With My Coffee”, a sweet and sentimental love song with a super catchy chorus. Friday’s twisted sense of humor takes a front seat in the half kids’ ditty/half barroom sing along, “Nils The Rasta Viking”. “He took his shield and made a steel drum out of it…he’s Nils the Rasta Viking, drinking rum and aquavit”. I mentioned covers earlier – Michael Franti & Spearhead’s 2009 Summer hit, “Say Hey (I Love You)” gets the Teddy Bear treatment, and John pays tribute to one of his musical inspirations, Dan Fogelberg, with a beautiful ballad titled “When You’re Not Near Me”, a cut from Fogelberg’s 2003 cd, “Full Circle”.

http://johnfriday.com/index.html

Yankee Jack, Key West Conch-troversial

Sitting up close to hear Yankee Jack in a bar  is like being in the front row at a Gallagher show – eventually, you’re gonna get hit with something. Only, in Jack’s case, it’s not sledgehammered fruit – it’s humor, mostly of the “not politically correct” variety. Tourists, foreigners, gays, fat people, skinny people, women with large breasts – breasts in general. They all get lovingly attended to (or skewered) at a Yankee Jack show. Typical Jack Joke (paraphrased): “They’re outlawing mini skirts on Duval Street. The problem is the testicles hanging below the hemline”. Bad-dum-bum. If you’ve been to Key West, chances are you’ve heard Yankee Jack. He holds court most weekdays at the Bull and Whistle on Duval  and – given the open air layout of the first-floor Bull – the laughter and music is usually heard spilling out into the street.

Key West Conch-troversial, Jack’s latest cd of original material, is a conglomeration of “straight” material with plenty of his over the top musical comedy. The opening track, a tribute to his adopted home town (originally from new England, Jack moved to Key West in 1989) “Cayo Hueso”, mixes the two. One minute he’s singing about sleeping on the beach under the stars, the next he’s admiring a woman with “a great caboose”. “Same Sex Sunday” is not about spending part of the weekend hanging out with your own gender, like the title might imply. Instead, it’s an ode to stuck in a rut marriages (“What we used to do like stars of porn is scheduled now for Sunday morn”). “Jesus Was a Democrat” will probably tweak those on the Right but, then again, Conservative has never been a word associated with Key West. “The Last Mudslide” is a musical shout out to Jack’s main employer that floats a familiar theme  – a Key West visitor that isn’t quite ready to head back home (“I’m strapped in a plane and I wish I were back – drinking Mudslides on the bar at the Bull”).

More of the larger than life Yankee Jack’s humor appears on “If It Flirts, Floats Or Flies, Rent It” (“A woman gives you nookie, but she might wind up to look like Snookie”) and the title track, another tribute to his adopted island home, “Very Conch-troversial” (“The Southernmost point is my new home, I come from a land they call bitch and moan, and half this island’s getting stoned”). But, just when you think you’ve got Jack figured out as a jokester and humorist, he slides comfortably into a soft piano ballad like “The Sea”, or a catchy Trop rock toast to a seaside town, like “Casco Bay”.  

For a taste of Jack’s live show, check out his cd, “The Best Of Yankee Jack Live in Key West”. Just don’t sit too close to the speakers.  http://yankeejack.com/

CD Review: Southern Drawl Band

 

Southern Drawl Band "Against The Grain"

 

 

I first heard about the Southern Drawl Band from my friend, Shurl Galliher-Gates. Shurl lives in the Tampa area and runs a music management business, where she works with a number of artists – including the Southern Drawl Band. I was talking to her about last year’s Meeting Of The Minds and the possibility of doing some recording for my internet radio show, “Trop Rockin’ Live” (heard Thursdays and Sundays on BeachFrontRadio.com). Shurl suggested I check out SDB and put me in touch with lead singer and front man, Mike Nash (aka “Nash Mike”).

 

At this point, let me tell you a little about my background. I’m currently a radio dj in Atlanta – and can also be heard weekday afternoons on stations in Mobile, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida. But, for a number of years, I was in record promotion. That is, I worked for some major record labels and my job was to try to get radio stations to play the records – singles – released by the artists we represented. I was also the Music Editor for an industry trade magazine, and, before moving to Atlanta, worked for radio stations from Charlotte to Philadelphia. Over the years I have worked with groups from Yes and Motley Crue, to Blondie and the Go Gos and met stars like David Bowie, Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, Robert Plant, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones – and Jimmy Buffett. I mention all this for a couple of reasons. I am used to hearing hit records. And I have also dealt with a lot of a-holes. The latter makes it that much more of a pleasant surprise when I encounter someone in the music business who is not an a-hole, someone who is a genuinely nice person. One of the reasons I like “Trop Rock” is because so many of the people performing it are just that, genuinely nice people. Which brings me back to “Nash Mike”. Following Shurl’s advice, I dropped Mike an email, told him about my upcoming trip to Key West and plans to record for Trop Rockin’ Live. Within a day I got an enthusiastic email back, saying “Sure you can record us!”. Mike and I exchanged friendly emails over the next couple of weeks, then met during Meeting of the Minds, where I found him to be just as nice in person as he was over the internet. I also had a chance to hear the band live at the Smokin’ Tuna Saloon.

 

All that leads me to the point where Steve Kesegich called and asked if I would be interested in reviewing cds for Crab Island Mambo. Among the first batch of discs Steve sent me to check out was the most recent release from the Southern Drawl Band, “Against The Grain”. Having met “Nash Mike” and seen the band live, I was anxious to hear what they sounded like on record (yeah, I’m old enough to remember – and still call music – records). So, I popped the disc in the player on a recent road trip. As I said earlier, I have spent years in the music business – and listened to thousands of albums (there I go showing my age again). I can usually tell whether a record is going to be good or not within the first three tracks. This record – ok, cd – isn’t just good. It’s DAMN good.

 

First up is the title track, “Against The Grain”, a swampy Southern Rocker –Lynyrd Skynyrd meets Jason Aldean. Mike’s voice has just the right touch of gravel and grit, backed by bluesy harp and a bluegrass banjo. If these guys were on a major record label, this song would already be on the radio. From there the cd takes a Trop Rock turn, with “Another Day In Paradise”. With an island feel and lyrics about sun and surf, it would sound right at home on a Zac Brown Band record. Next up is “The Backroads”, an achingly pretty number about escaping to someplace where time passes while sitting in a front porch swing and “shellin’ beans”. There you are. I told you I could tell if a cd was going to be good or not after the first three tracks, and these three are as good as I’ve heard from any album – independent OR major release – in some time. This doesn’t sound like a band that’s big in Knoxville, Tennesee (their hometown). This sounds like a band that is ready to be big EVERYWHERE.

 

There are plenty more good tracks on “Against The Grain”, from the raucous, rocking – and hilarious – “Party Trained” (“She’s the life of the party till you get her started on double tequila shots and twisted Bacardi”) and “My Johnson (“When I pull up the girls all grin, they love to watch me put it in”), to the nostalgic “When Kids Played Outside (“Our Playstation was an old swing set”) and even a Phil Collins-y piano ballad,  “Gone”.

 

A little back ground on the group: according to their bio, SDB was formed in 2011 by Mike and drummer Larry Dunsmore. They added percussionist Melanie Howe (who, I must say, won a lot of admirers - mostly male - at Meeting of the Minds) and bassist Daniel in 2012, the same year they recorded and released “Against The Grain”. More recently, they have released a five song ep titled “Another Day In Paradise” that includes that song and four more island-inspired tracks, including one – “Floriday” – recorded with fellow Tennessean Taul Paul. The ep was released largely to quiet folks who kept saying, “These guys are good, but are they TROP ROCK?”

 

The SDB will be on the road throughout 2013, including a number of dates throughout Florida. More info – as well as a free download of their take on “Rocky Top” – can be found on their website, http://southerndrawlbandofficial.com/

 

CD Previews: New Music from Howard Livingston, Eric Stone, Jerry Diaz & Hanna's Reef and Loren Davidson

Howard Livingston, Six Pack And a Tan

“He’s got this habit that I’m growing to hate, his almost continuous status updates ‘bout his life in the Keys and all that he’s going through…When it’s all said and done, man you know we wanna be like you. I wanna be Howie….” - Paul Roush, “I Wanna Be Howie”

Who WOULDN’T want to be Howard Livingston? A closet full of shorts and flips flops, fishing and playing Trop Rock…with the blue water and sand of the Florida Keys as the backdrop to your daily activities? It’s a Parrot Head’s dream! But, there’s only one “Howie” and if we can’t BE him, the only choice remaining is to live vicariously through him, via his Facebook page…and his cds.

Howard’s latest release is called “Six Pack and A Tan” and, like of all his earlier cds, it’s a lyrical and music tour of the Conch Republic, a tropical party on a round silver disc.  “Six Pack…” opens with the title track, the story of a retired military man who makes “cold beer and a fishing pole his new battle plan.”. Ditching it all and heading for somewhere warm and sunny is a recurring theme in Howard’s music and, why not? It’s what he did many years ago, leaving the corporate life to be a guitar picker in the Keys.

Next up is “Magic In Key West”, an ode to the Conch Republic that name drops Jimmy Buffett and Jerry Jeff Walker. One interesting thing about Howie’s music is that, although he calls South Florida home, many of his tunes sound like they were written South of the Border – with Tijuana brass and Mariachi rhythms that would make Mark Mulligan proud.

“Keysified” is another in a long line of ‘leaving the business world behind and heading for the beach’ songs that owes their origin to Buffett classics like “The Weather is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful”. In Howard’s version, the heroine is headed to a convention in Miami when she gets the bug, rents a convertible and heads down US1. Fueled by a Pina Colada in Islamorada, somewhere over the Seven Mile bridge she loses her business suit, changes into “a little bikini” and never looks back.

Another recurring them in Howard Livingston’s music - and a key ingredient for a majority of all trop rock, for that matter - is alcohol and the partaking of it. Boat Drinks, Margaritas, Rum, ice cold Cervezas. It’s not much of a Parrot Head Party without ‘em . “Five Lines in A Tervis Tumbler” is a reggaefied tribute to those wonderful hot/cold drink recepticles –  a Trop Rockin’ version of “Red Solo Cup”, featuring Howard’s favorite beverage, Coconut rum.

Marine-based puns are nothing new to Trop Rock (see John Reno’s “Lobster But Never Flounder”) and Howard incorporates a number of them in the boogie woogie “Something Fishy’s Going On”.  Funny song, but all I can say is, if I ever walk into my house and find “candles were lit, lights were low, Marvin Gaye on the stereo” and find my wife “laying in our bed wearing a leopard skin thong”? I’m not questioning the motives!

“Six Pack and a Tan” also features one of the oddest Trop Rock songs I have to say I’ve ever heard. Riding a “Puff the Magic Dragon” beat, “Peeing On A Coconut Tree” includes lines like “we were peeing on a Sycamore tree, just my daddy and me”. I’ve GOT to ask Howard about that one the next time I see him…

But, not all of “Six Pack and a Tan” is about throwing responsibilities to the wind and firing up the blender (or relieving yourself on vegetation). Howard intersperses the party tunes with some self reflection and songs tailor-made for swinging in a hammock.  “Another Sunset” rocks gently on a Mexican breeze, “Slow” is a romantic ballad with an appropriate title, and “Younger Every Day” is a mellow number about not fearing the passing the time. Need a song to help you take a mental vacation the next time it’s cold and cloudy? Cue up “Rainy Day in Paradise”. Somehow, even bad weather seems imminently more bearable when the rain drops are falling into the ocean. 

Wrapping up the cd is an upbeat musical snapshot of life in Livingston Land: “Out On Sandy Key”.  Friends, food, music, booze and boats – all under the South Florida sun.  Like Paul Roush’s song says, I wanna be Howie!

Eric Stone, Time To Fly

I have heard his name for years but only recently became familiar with Eric’s music. On the way down to last year’s Meeting Of The Minds, my wife and I stopped by to see him play a set at a roadside tiki bar in Islamorada. Since then, I have included several of his tunes on my show, Trop Rockin’ Live, and can now, happily, answer “Yes!” when someone comes up to me at one of my dj gigs to ask, “Do you have any Eric Stone?”

His latest cd is a well-blended mix of Trop Rock and good old American R&R with a swing through the Lonestar State. Much of the material focuses on chasing your dreams and living life on your own terms, especially if those terms include beaches, boats and bars. The main character in “Ave De Paso” is an “old man chasing the wind”. “Jimmy’s Drive In” finds the hero leaving behind West Texas for a different kind of sun and sand, and in “Way Down In Mexico”, Eric invites anyone who wants to join him to “follow me…we’ll drink Pacificos, we’ll be free…down by the sea”. “Life Like A Novel” and the title track continue the theme of escaping and “searching for a better state of mind”. From name-dropping tumbleweed towns like Odessa to mentions of rattlesnakes and crossing the border, Texas also looms large on “Time To Fly”, musically and lyrically… The Tex-Mex party is in full swing on “Bad Tequila”, where Eric teaches us a lesson about the difference between rock gut and the good stuff.

Jerry Diaz & Hanna's Reef "On A Beach In Mexico"

 I spent some time – many years ago – living in Corpus Christi, not far from Jerry Diaz’s home on the South Texas Gulf coast. I loved the lifestyle, sailboats, wind surfing and Margaritas (why I left is a long story but involves thinking I needed to get somewhere less laid back if I wanted to develop a career. I know, stupid, right? Now, all I can think about is getting back to the beach!), While I was there, I also fell in love with Tex Mex music; Freddy Fender, the Texas Tornadoes, Joe King Carrasco. Which is just another reason why I love Jerry and Hannah’s Reef so much. They mix plenty of south of the border into their Trop Rock for something they appropriately call “Texas Beach Music”.

Named after a local Texas fishing spot, Hannah’s Reef is Jerry on lead vocals and guitar, Mark Mireles on steel drums and acoustic guitar, Chuck Willingham on drums, Bobby Summers on Bass, Bud Byram on percussion, and Heli Martin on guitars. If there is a theme to Jerry Diaz and Hannah’s Reef’s latest cd, “On a Beach In Mexico”, which I guess can be said about most Trop Rock, it is escape… Songs like the title track, “Senoritaville”, and “Down To the Islands” are all about packing your bags and heading to somewhere with sand, sun and drinks with salted rims. In “Down To The islands”, the singer is “stuck somewhere in Arkansas” and says, “I’m a restless soul in a watering hole, drinking rum just to get away” then offers “When my ship comes in, I’m gonna jump right in. I can’t wait to get outta here”.

The desire to leave what ails you behind and head to “a place to go when you’ve had your fill of honey do’s and honey don’ts” continues in “Welcome to Senoritaville” where the singer is down on his luck, “broker than hell” and the IRS is “moving in any day”. Then the answer hits him, “a flight down to Laredo was just what I needed”. And in “On a Beach In Mexico”, the singer dreams of  “tropical islands and places I wanna be” while suffering under a “Cold Nebraska sky”.  

But the songs on “On a Beach In Mexico” aren’t simply about wanting to swap a bad situation for a better one, they’re also about the flip side: thoroughly enjoying a really good situation: “I’ve got something money can’t buy, a good lovin’ woman standing by my side” (“I’ve Got Love”), as well as making the best of the hand you’re dealt:  “Just give me ten to twenty, and I’ll feel just fine. The wind at my back and a bottle of wine” (“Ten To Twenty”) and “If  there’s beer in the cooler, I’ll be alright” (“Beer In The Cooler”).  Wrapping up the cd is a staple of Hannah’s Reef live shows, “We’ll Get By” – which features a guest appearance by John Reno. Think of it as a Margarita glass half full kind of tune, with lines like,  “Well it takes me nearly all I’ve got,  just to make ends meet”and  “But that’s ok, come what may, we’ll get by”. Amen, brother.

Loren Davidson "Of All The Rum Joints"

If you want to make music for a living, writing and recording is just PART of the process. You also need to PROMOTE. And few people work harder at it than California’s Loren Davidson. Anytime I post something on Facebook asking artists to submit information for my blog or music for my BeachFrontRadio show, “Trop Rockin’ Live”, Loren is always one of the first people to respond. The title of latest cd, “Of All the Rum Joints” and one of the songs on the cd, “Looking at You” are both nods to my favorite movie of all time, Casablanca. Produced, engineered and mixed by popular Trop Pock producer, Kevin Johnson at Orca Sound in Maryland, “Of All the Rum Joints” features eleven original songs written by Loren, plus two covers – The Doors’ “Moonlight Drive” and “Sunshine on My Shoulder” from John Denver. The originals are some of Loren’s best ever – “Voodoo Lounge” has a bluesy, back alley New Orleans vibe, “Fly Away” wouldn’t sound out of place on a Zac Brown Band cd, and “One More Rum” is a clap along tune about the trials and tribulations of being a live performer in a room full of party people who want to buy you drinks all night.