WHAT'S ROCKIN'

Review
Right, let’s git some music, the album kicks off with a song named after the band themselves “Lean Canteen”. It’s a gentle track on the hillbilly/swing side of the bands sound, nice vocals and instrumentation throughout with very fine guitar and fiddle solos. It is already clear to me this band can find a swinging groove and fully inhabit it. My only question is, which came first song or band name? . The pace increases on track 2 “Keep On, Keeping On” which is a fun western swing track written by lead singer James. It tells the story of one man’s adventures wandering from town to town trying to avoid trouble in honky tonks. We move further into rockin’ territory with “Another Fine Day” which is a nice Jiver with Woody’s bass prominent in the mix and more cool guitar (both electric and steel) solos. We return to country music for the next track and the first one written by the bass player. Like its title suggests “A Man’s Best Friend” is about a dog but sadly he’s not living up to his billing as “best friend”. It’s another fun lyric and the vocals are very reminiscent of Roy Kay on this.
Track 5 “Much, Much to Do” finds a great rockin’ groove punctuated with electric guitar licks, and as the track develops, these are overlaid with some lovely steel embellishments. I like the backing vocals as well and this song really grows on you with repeated plays. The pace increases again for “Diamond Ring” which is a jewel of a fast country song with melancholy vocals and instrumentation about a man who feels “taken for granted”, heck we’ve all been there. Next up is a great country jiver with lovely steel playing and fantastic solos which also feature some great electric playing. “Every Time” really gets the blood racing and I defy you not to toe tap to this on. The fiddle returns for “Way Up In My Barn” which is more on a ‘train’ tempo but swings just as much as the rest of the album and the combined guitar and fiddle solos are sweet, Daniel and James are both top class musicians. So after 8 originals we get into covers territory and these of course reflect the bands influences, first up is “Tulsa Straight Ahead” written and recorded by Leon McCauliffe who rose to prominence with Bob Wills who was based in Tulsa. This is classic western swing and the boys really do it justice. McCauliffe was a steel player himself and would be happy with Daniels version of his own classic sound, superb track. The band next dive deep into their rockabilly influences with their rockin’ version of “Love Me” the Jimmy Lee and Wayne Walker 1955 track. The cover is similar in style to the original which won’t raise an argument here, this is rural rockabilly played as it should be and I like the harmony vocals which nicely recall the original.
The next two tracks return to original writing and first up is “Bridger Boy”, a song written by drummer Craig and it has a nice Latin flavoured intro which builds into a great swing groove where the drums are particularly prominent. I like the contrast between the rhythms which is repeated again, and the band are really cooking as we swing to the songs close. I’m not sure what a bridger boy is but I like it. We now get to the final original track on the album and we’re in rockabilly twang territory with “Sweet Sensation”. This is the purest “guitar” track on this collection and is at a slower stroll tempo but still has a groove that kicks ass and has a nice western feel to it, this is possibly my favourite track on the album. At 14 tracks, the canteen is far from lean and the bands adds to the value they offer with two closing covers. Once again these are well chosen and “Ghost Memories” continues the gothic stroll vibe of the previous track. The original by Gene McKown is a wonderful slice of 1964 rockabilly (not often we say that). Once again, the boys stick close to the original arrangement which doesn’t surprise me as its simply superb with slightly haunting vocals and another highlight for me. We’re trucking to the end of the album now and the closer is a song made famous by the “Bard of Bakersfield” Red Simpson in the mid 60’s “Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves”. The band have really excelled in their choice of covers and it speaks volumes of their own excellent taste in music and deep knowledge of roots music. It brings the album to a suitably explosive climax.
So in summary, I really enjoyed this album, everything is quality, the playing, the song writing, the arrangements, and the vocals. There wasn’t a weak track on the album but my personal favourites are the more rockabilly tracks but that is probably just my own natural bias, I love all roots music but pure 50’s Rockabilly is always number 1. I had a superb meal in this Canteen and if you dig the spectrum of styles I describe in this review you will love this album and it comes highly recommended. I sincerely look forward to my next visit to the Lean Cantina.

Review by Eamonn Doyle

Highly Recommended