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Blues Underground Network |
Too Slim And The Taildraggers "Free Your Mind"
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Reviews and Info
I like to read other writers sometimes. They help me make sure I’m not missing something when I go to write a review. Sometimes I come away with learning a few things and others, I sometimes come away nodding my head this way or that. I’ve read a few reviews of the current release and I’m a bit puzzled at some of the egregious passings over on some of the great moments on this disc. Tim Langford is an upper Northwest workhorse, who goes far beyond the regional act moniker he’s sometimes given. Last year’s Fortune Teller was one of Tim’s most introspective records and a runaway success on the Billboard Blues charts with no major label backing and no real retail chain pushing it through. It cracked the Top 20 simply on the blood, sweat and tears of Tim’s touring and his wife Nancy’s nonstop hard work. Nancy is the label president of Tim’s own Underworld Records and also his manager. Fortune Teller, unlike the two previous records before it, really focused and honed in on Tim’s life and worldview. His deeply personal lyrics and malevolent guitar work won over fans as he toured coast to coast. Free Your Mind pushes Tim outward a little more. His lyrics and focus seem to be storytelling about the world around him more with a little less introspection. He is a very mindful Heartland Rocker, as some would peg him. Many of his guitar riffs and solos sound like they belong or were birthed from Classic Rock radio’s deepest cuts. Think John Mellencamp with Joe Walsh’s guitar attack and witticism. Too Slim’s knife-edge wit can be heard in tunes like “Last Train,” where he says we’re “riding the last train/and Hunter S. Thompson is the engineer” or he warns us about the lady in the trailer park at the edge of town in “Devin In A Doublewide.” These songs are straight up tough beer swiggin’, tobacco chewin’, Harley ridin’, rockers meant to kick you in the ass to make you stomp your feet and dance along. Langford has long been the Joe the Plumber’s poet laureate, the every man’s musician who isn’t afraid to kick a little in the face of authority or to relax with an ice cold beer or a little more as he states in “Free Your Mind.” Langford has once again struck a chord in the hearts of working class America with his ruckus mixture of roots rock, blues, and singer/songwriter minded ways. “When You Love Somebody” has to be the catchiest tune I’ve heard this year. It’ll make you want to drive down the road, slapping the steering wheel in time, singing the chorus. You’ll want to shout “Testament” when you’re pissed off at the world and no doubt everyone can identify with the life experience loaded into “Been Through Hell.” The final track “The Light” with special guest vocalist Lauren Evans, though, is the true masterpiece on the disc. The song is a gospel-blues laced with some of Tim Langford’s finest guitar work I’ve ever heard him play. Evans blast-furnace emotions bleed all over this one so much that it’ll make your skin crawl with goose-pimple inducing chills. When both Evans and Langford reach fever pitch with their respective instruments, the roof nearly blows off on this one. I don’t know or have seen where Evans has released anything of her own, but let me tell you, I’m waiting for it. Her voice and Tim’s guitar together will cause shock and awe. Outside of a few mixing issues with vocals and guitars, Tim Langford has continued his success from his previous two releases. Roots fans should eat this one up all over the country as he tours again, non-stop – always hardworking, just like the blue collar folks he sings and represents in his songs. Posted by Ben the Harpman
Rice B. and the RadioIndy.com Reviewer Team Album Notes The 11 songs that appear on Free Your Mind, the 10th studio album from Seattle-based Too Slim and the Taildraggers, are the result of a touring hiatus in December 2007 and January 2008. “It was the first time I actually took time off specifically to write songs,” remembers band leader Tim Langford (AKA Too Slim), “and I’m very pleased with the results.” The songs on Free Your Mind are a slice of American roots music, with blues, Americana and rock influences. “The songwriting process is something that I really enjoy, but it can also drive you a little crazy,” says the lead singer/guitarist. “I always try to write down ideas or phrases that I hear in everyday life that could be song titles. Some songs are inspired by personal experiences and some are just observations of life as I see it. For instance, the lyrics on the song ‘Last Train’ were inspired by reading stories from one day of the Seattle Times newspaper. I was actually laughing out loud - and was appalled at the same time - by the articles I was reading. The chorus just came out of me as I was running through a rough draft of the song: ‘Feel like I’m riding on the last train, with cracks in the wheels, headed for a big bang. Feel like I’m riding on the last train and Hunter S. Thompson is the engineer.’ It seemed to sum up the absurdity of the world events on that particular day. I like the variety of the music on Free Your Mind. There are songs of love, perseverance, faith, fiction, frustration and the craziness of everyday life,” adds Langford.. Tim Langford worked again with producer Todd Smallwood on the new album. Smallwood also co-produced the band’s last CD, The Fortune Teller. “I really enjoyed working in the studio with Todd,” says Tim. “He had great ideas, and has the recording process down to an art. He is an extremely talented producer and musician, and played Hammond organ and 12-string guitar on the recording, too. Todd’s studio is in the middle of an avocado grove in the Santa Paula area of California. It’s a very nice setting and the sun was shining everyday, which was a wonderful environment in which to record. We recorded at three separate sessions starting in September 2008 through November 2008. I went in the studio with the band and we ran through all the songs live and got the rhythm tracks down at the first session. Then, I returned on my own the second time for guitar overdubs and vocals. At the third session, Todd and I put the finishing touches on the album. We then left Todd alone to finish the mixes and work his creative magic. We recorded all the guitars straight through a Peavey Classic 50 guitar amp and a Fender Deluxe Reverb in the back room of the studio with no effects. I received a Les Paul Supreme guitar last year on my birthday from my lovely wife and manager, Nancy. Most of the guitar parts are recorded with that guitar. It has a very special tone. I also used my Reverend guitars for all the slide work. I did use a Fender Stratocaster for the solo in ‘Last Train’. We also had the pleasure of working with wonderful singers like Lauren Evans and Paula and Pamela Mattioli.”
That is where half of the genius of Tim “Too Slim” Langford comes in. “Bottle It Up” is the title that succinctly (and politely) summarizes that “just shut up” idea. The lyrics (thoughtfully included in the CDs nicely presented package) read, “You make me just want to yell and scream / The world you live in is a fantasy / Someday I hope that you will wake up from your dream / And join us in reality.” Implication: the offender needs a good telling off, but we know who will get “burned” in the end. The other half of Langford’s genius is setting those lyrics to music led by his legendary guitar work. Across Langford’s career, imaginative guitar playing and distinctive tones on electric guitar, slide, and acoustic stake his claim as a master guitarist currently with rising recognition. On first listen to “Bottle It Up,” I told Too Slim, “I hear Beatles tones in there.” In an interview, Slim revealed, “The guitar playing is George Harrison slide style all the way. It’s “All Things must Pass” era - one of my favorite albums of all time.” “Free Your Mind” is Too Slim and the Taildraggers’ 10th studio album since 1988. Its eleven original songs are a slice of American roots music, with influences from Blues, Americana and Rock. By 2003’s “Tales of Sin and Redemption,” Too Slim and his changing rhythm section, The Taildraggers, have truly created an eclectic style that has become a genre all its own allowing them to easily cross-over and appeal to audiences of various musical tastes. For this outing, Too Slim sang lead and played Les Paul Supreme, Reverend, and Stratocaster guitars, the bass was handled by Dave Nordstrom, Rudy Simone drummed, background vocalists were Pamela and Paula Mattioli, and co-producer Todd Smallwood added Hammond organ and 12-string guitar on the recording, too. For the fist time ever on a Too Slim album, another singer did lead vocals: Lauren Evans sang the last cut, a personal “prayer of sorts,” titled “The Light.” Slim revealed, “I had to let Lauren sing this one. I had written it way before I met her, and when I heard her voice, I just knew this song belonged to her. She has a gospel background, and she takes it to the church! [Call it] divine intervention.” The CD's first track, "When You Love Somebody," launches off the pad by marrying the heartland rock of John Cougar Mellencamp with the southern rock influences of Lynyrd Skynyrd for a kick-ass opening. It is actually a love song; a “love song to my sweet [wife] Nancy,” Slim shared. I have known Tim Langford for 14 years, and I can testify that despite all the “takers” he has unfortunately met, he manages to keep love in his heart. Opening with some deft single string picking, “Last Train” was written, after [Slim] read the Seattle Times one day. “All the lyrics are from subjects of different articles that day, and there was some crazy sh*t!” he explained. Slim compares society’s unreasonable excesses as the “last train, with cracks in the wheels” about to jump the tracks, and “Hunter S. Thompson is the engineer!” With Southern Rock soaring guitars, “Devil in a Doublewide” is Too Slim’s take on the sad meth epidemic. The guitar hooks and slide on the title track “Free Your Mind” are as catchy as cats on mice. “Everybody can relate to that time when you did not have a care in the world (“life is better when you don't have a care!”). Sometimes you got to reach back and hold on to that memory and re-inject it into your life as it is today,” says Langford. “Pour yourself a cold one” and “try everything before you get old.” “Testament” testifies to Langford’s maturing as both a man and songwriter. Over layers of haunting guitars, Slim shared, “It’s a prayer of sorts. I wrote this whole song in about half an hour! Divine intervention!” Some of the influence seems to have come from the extremely harsh winter Seattle had this year. Slim plays some of his patent killer slide guitar mid-song on a tune about perseverance, “Been Through Hell” - to get a little heaven.” Slim’s philosophy here, “Sometimes you got to go through some sh*t to get to the good stuff. Keep your head up and don't take things for granted.” More maturity is found in “Peace with the Maker,” Slim’s take on the crossroads and making a deal with the Devil. Scolding guitar encourages responsibility for actions taken, and the chorus reminds one to make “peace with the Maker.” “Throw Me a Rope” – “This is a song about wondering who your real friends are. Nobody knows you when you are down and out, right? If you could rescue me, would you try?” Some of the best uplifting guitar is found here in the middle solo. Both humor and pathos are found in “This Phone.” A “lovesick and lonesome” man continually “stares at This Phone,” thinking that if he stares “long enough, it just might ring.” “I wrote this song a long time ago when I was courting my sweet wife Nancy. Cell phone service was not as good back then!” said Slim. There may be a time to keep you mouth shut, but concerning “Free Your Mind,” this is not the time. Say it loudly, say it proudly, Too Slim and the Taildraggers rock! By James “Skyy Dobro” Walker Tracklist 1. When You love Somebody
4:56 Listen To Samples Here About Too Slim And The Taildraggers Tim “Too Slim” Langford, with his band the Taildraggers, have created an eclectic style of roots-rock, Americana and blues that has become a genre all its own. Too Slim's ever- evolving musical direction cannot be classified into any box or category. The eclectic nature of the band allows Too Slim and the Taildraggers to easily cross-over and appeal to audiences of various musical tastes.
Too Slim and the Taildraggers are
headliners at theaters, festivals and concert stages. The band has shared
the stage with the likes of Bo Diddley, Brian Setzer, Johnny Lang, The band’s last CD The Fortune Teller, charted as high as #9 on the Billboard magazine Top Blues Album sales chart in 2007 and 2008. The Fortune Teller was also nominated for “Best Contemporary Blues Album” at the 2008 “Blues Blast Music Awards” in Chicago. This award-winning band has been voted “Best Regional Act” 11 times by the Cascade Blues Association, the largest organization of its kind in the USA. Too Slim and the Taildraggers have received multiple awards from various North West Reader’s polls and other North West blues societies for “Best Band” and “Best Album.” Founding member Langford has won multiple individual awards as “Best Guitarist,” “Best Slide Guitarist” and “Best Songwriter.” Too Slim and the Taildraggers are also in the Hall of Fame of three North West blues societies. Their devoted fan base has grown over the years into a national and international following. As one reviewer explained the band, “experiencing a Too Slim and the Taildraggers concert is like taking a journey through the history of American music. Too Slim’s musical style ranges from down home blues, funky blues rock, Americana, southern swamp rock and instrumental guitar styles.” Too Slim & the Taildraggers - "Flatback Flathead" 04 24 09
http://www.myspace.com/tooslimandthetaildraggers
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