Two Tons Of Steel

Vegas

Palo Duro Records-PDR4001 **** ½

With a mixture of country and rock ‘n’ roll, this album is just good clean unadulterated fun They call this mix of music country-billy; it is a great blend of hillbilly, honky-tonk and rockabilly. These guys are highly talented musicians, and are one of the hottest acts on the Texas club circuit at the moment.The band are made up of Kevin Geil on lead vocals and acoustic guitar (as well as writing a large proportion of the tracks), Dennis Fallon on electric guitar and harmonica, Ric Ramirez on upright bass and harmony vocals, Chris Dobbs on drums and harmony vocals and Denny Mathis on steel guitar and Dobro.

The title track ‘Vegas’, is a happy dance tune written by Geil for his wife, ‘Because she loves to drive & loves Vegas’ (bands bio). They also do the exquisitely dreamy ‘Havana Moon’, which has become a bit of a signature song for them.

There are some real fun songs on this album, such as the great ‘Secret Agent Man’ with James Bond styled musical backing, and the rocking and rolling ‘Ice Cream Man’ with superb piano from Riley Osbourn as well as fantastic solos from Fallon and Ramirez on electric guitar and upright bass respectively.

‘Baby You Got Me’ is very Elvis, and the album ends with one of my favourite rock ‘n’ rollers ‘Red Hot’. As well as the great musicianship, Geil’s vocals are raw, rocking and absolutely right for this kind of music.If you like BR5-49 and The Derailers, then you should love this group. DK

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