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News
Continued....
Album Released!
4/23/01
The good reviews are already rolling in! Be sure
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your local record store or at Amazon.com and CDNow.com
Reviews
Tears to toe-tappin': Country cranks up
Jim Abbott
SENTINEL POP MUSIC WRITER
Posted May 3, 2001, 2:00 PM EDT
* * * * * The Tractors, Fast Girl (Audium): There's
nothing too complex about this fourth album from
the loosely organized band of country neo-traditionalists
assembled occasionally -- though not often enough
-- by Oklahoma native Steve Ripley.
Yet three chords still go a long way in the right
hands -- and there are lots of talented fingerprints
on these 10 rollicking saloon songs. Leon Russell
handles piano and Hammond B-3 organ in a band that
includes bluegrass ace Sam Bush on mandolin and
portions of Elvis Presley's well-regarded rhythm
section (guitarist James Burton and drummer D.J.
Fontana).
There are moments when Fast Girl makes you pine
for the days when Merle Haggard and Buck Owens had
a place on country radio. More often, though, the
album is a toe-tapping reminder of the natural link
between old-time country and the blues-based boogie
that Sam Phillips' Sun Records would transform into
rock 'n' roll in the late 1950s.
From Ripley's initial "Heeyyy, Baaaybeeee!"
exclamation (a nod to the Big Bopper?), there's
an informal atmosphere that results in a one-take,
leave-the-tape-running feel.
The opening "Babalou" chugs along behind
a solid snare-drum backbeat, a punchy horn section,
Burton's dobro and well-placed background voices.
The lyrics span world history from Old Testament
stories to Ricky Ricardo and modern politics against
a melody borrowed from "The Midnight Special."
That's not the only time that Ripley wears his influences
on his sleeve. "Nine Eleven" is a credited
sampling of the melody from Huey "Piano"
Smith's "Rockin' Pneumonia." The title
alludes to a love-related emergency call.
"Can't Go Nowhere" dips into Texas swing
with an authenticity that rivals Asleep at the Wheel.
It's about a hard-luck guy who can't seem to do
what he once did: "You're a fast ball, baby
-- Inside curve/ I'd take a swing -- I ain't got
the nerve." The jaunty arrangement, which adds
a dose of saxophone to the requisite pedal steel
guitar, proves that Ripley and his hired guns don't
have that problem.
The band slows the tempo for "Ready to Cry,"
a lean but gorgeously arranged ballad about being
on the edge of tears. It's a terrific showcase for
Ripley's deep baritone, which manages to sound rugged
and vulnerable at the same time on a song that wouldn't
sound out of place on an Iguanas album.
Ripley embraces his mission on "It's a Beautiful
Thing," which examines the enduring power of
Hank Williams and Chuck Berry against the tide of
lesser competition. "There's a lot of new music,"
he sings. "Stop and think and you'll find.
Even Hank was new music once, got to keep an open
mind. I set aside my Faron Young and bought myself
a Hootie. I rolled down the window of my pick-up
truck and it sailed like a Frisbee."
It's worth rolling down the window for Fast Girl
too -- so you can feel the wind in your hair when
you turn up the volume.
Copyright © 2001, Orlando Sentinel
Billboard
The release schedule of albums by the Tractors
seems to be measured in glacial terms, but the
results are rarely disappointing. Fast Girl finds
the Tulsa-based country boogiemeisters bouncing
to their own metronome, led by head Tractor and
chief songwriter Steve Ripley. The act's debut
on Nashville indie Audium is a sonic delight,
with expert musicianship from top to bottom (including
an "honorary Tractor" stint by Leon
Russell). "Babalou" thumps with an Okie
heartbeat, "Can't Get Nowhere" swings
mightily, and "Ready to Cry" sways with
dusty soul. Ripley pays homage to his roots with
the back-porch anthem "Higher Ground"
and a medley of " A Little Place of Our Own"
and Dylan's "On the Road Again" that
closes the set. Ripley remains an adventurous,
risk-taking knob-twister in his own Church Studio,
deftly deploying horns, piano, guitars, and backup
vocals. Somehow, the Tractors manage to be loose
and tight at the same time, plowing along like
an old John Deere held together with spit and
bailing wire.‹RW
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