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| Brian Wright Brings It All Home |
| band: Brian Wright & The Waco Tragedies |
| Album: Bluebird |
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"I laugh, I love, I hope, I try, I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry. And I know you do the same things too, So we're really not that different, me and you." ~ Colin Raye
"Life has got a habit of not standing hitched. You got to ride it like you find it. You got to change with it. If a day goes by that don't change some of your old notions for new ones, that is just about like trying to milk a dead cow."
~ Woody Guthrie
Brian Wright and The Waco Tragedies tells the story of our lives in country rock with heart and humor as well as I've heard. I love Dylan, The Eagles and the Workingman's Dead, and Brian Wright fits in there and then some. Brian has gathered to his cause some of the best on banjo, mandolin, slide steel, piano, drums, bass, guitar and accordion, and it is obvious from the album and apparent in the live performances that everybody is having fun. When I see a slide steel player, for instance, singing along without a mic, that tells me I'm seeing a band. You may find yourself singing along, if you aren't careful. These songs can do that to a person. Brian Wright and the Waco Tragedies can turn The Hotel Café into a kind of Hollywood barn dance. Brian has a following, but the newbie's stop their networking and generally get in the swing of things. The best critical response I've seen to this band is that girl at the side near the back who danced through the set. I find now and again alone in my apartment I might dance a little myself, but mostly I sing along. It's like Brian lives in my neighborhood and writes about places and people I know. Maybe if Woody had stuck around and kept changing his notions he would tell some of the same stories. Seems like Woody's "California Skies" would fit on the play list of The Waco Tragedies. Everybody has a story to tell, but these stories are worth listening to.
I get to feel something that matters listening to this CD, and the sound keeps me listening over and over again. When Brian Wright takes the mic live, with band members coming and going on a small stage, the crowd seems like a bunch of neighbors having the time of their lives. Brian's songs have twists and don't miss the details that make a good story. The small crowd of musicians in the live band and on the record are dedicated enough to bring this music to life, and I understand they were able to record this fine CD in two days and sound great without overworking the thing.
THE SONGS
OVER AND AGAIN ends will the description of a skipping record. Tells the story of repetition. "It skips. And it skips." "And I never loved her, but I told her I did over and over again." It's a lie that sounds better every time. "She said you sing it like you mean it but just some stupid song." Adeline knows something about living with the best you can do. "Nothing ever sounded better than the scratch of your record. I'm so glad that you threw it on." It just skips, and skips and skips.
MORNING CIGARETTE has lyrics and a feeling that might make it the missing song from Workingman's Dead. Lot's a lyrics here, telling a story. "If you find out, honey, won't you let me know?" Just a great line. Words that bounce along saying more than I can say. "Another morning cigarette. … You're on your way, but your not here just yet." Something about that smoke waiting for a friend just knocks me out. Gotta love that traveling lap steel. "Saw the Devil on the teley, I was playing in the band." Sounds like the Dead to me.
MRS. ROSENTHAL is a great duet makes me think of Mrs. Robinson with a Southern drawl. "Me and Mrs. Rosenthal rarely wear no clothes. She calls me up but not to talk. I think I'll go and see her tomorrow." She's from Baton Rouge and cooks like medicine, part Mexican. She likes that drawl. "Honey can I get ya'? " Yeah Momma. Nice whistling covering the dirty parts, and the fiddle player seems to know what's going on. Guess they needed a break from the singing to get it on.
FORMER QUEEN OF SPAIN is a damn fine honky tonk country rocker with the old 88 taking the lead. Has a chaos break make you think they lost the way, then damn but don't they all just come back together on cue. Love that break. There's a great sweet backing girl singer just before the Devil Comes Down To Georgia fiddle break. Did I say I love that lap steel? "Great. Former Queen of Spain. One Two Three Four." Let you buy the CD to hear the story. Best line: "That ain't love, but it's close enough." That and a wired shut mouth to keep from talking should be worth a buck for a record. Bet it's a good story. Music's damn good. Wouldn't you like to know?
HIGH SCHOOL DRUGS is that story of Juliana "with the radio on [she] looks just fine." Oh yeah, it feels kinda spacey. I do love that fiddle player, and I'm not just saying that cause he could kick my ass. "We had that sunrise kind of love." Brian does know how to tell a damn story. Nice little swamp guitar break. "Hey, Juliana." She may die young, but she's sure a ton of fun. Gotta love the honky tonk 88 with the fiddle and that banjo. That's all the rock 'n' roll I need for now.
BOY WITH NO NAME is brought home with that John Thompson piano book honky tonky piana player. Sounds a little like something I can't remember, but would like to. Floyd Cramer maybe. "I saw her just sittin' there." Yeah, I get that. "She sat there just crying for a boy with no name." I think Brian's been to a bar now and again. Kept his eyes open. I like that.
YOUR BROTHER THE POET starts with "She scratched at the door like a cat in the rain, and … I had you dead to rights." There's a gut string guitar playing this song. "How long has it been since Los Angeles had any snow." Fiddle does a nice job. He's a great big guy, but I'm not afraid of him. Honest. Brian mentions Dylan Thomas in this song. Come on, Cecil, part with a dollar.
ADELINE starts with the count one, two, three. "You grabbed my hand, and held on tight, floated down past prying eyes. I'd never jump dear from such great heights were you not there dear Adeline." There's a damn fine duet. The story only gets better. Got enough yet. I hope so. Personally, I love this song. "I'll do anything you say, dear Adeline."
CENTRAL PARK is a damn fine drug song. This song is a big hit with the audience. It's the song in the middle of the show in a live performance. "She always like the dry heat. She was raised in Arizona." Well that's a good line but terribly out of context. Brian has a story here. He does this song with a simple songwriter guitar in the middle of the show. People hoot and holler. Singer and guitar. All you need for a good story. This song is a crowd pleaser.
WAR ON WILCOX has that Hitchhiker's Guide banjo that makes me go spacey. "Where in the hell do you come from? Where in the hell do you go?" I'm a sucker for that sound and the story is always big, lighthearted and universal when I hear that banjo, and Brian doesn't disappoint. The fiddle, intimidating in his height, is beautiful and brilliant, and I'm not saying that from fear. He has a white decorated fiddle, nice guy. "Who dropped a dime on Reverend Wrong, well he just took what he felt he was owed." Sympathy for the corrupt pastor? Why not.
NEIGHBORHOOD is that end of night piano song that leaves you thinking about the universe and your own hometown. Every damn hometown sound you would ever want gets played here including, yeah, the accordion. There's a strident march of a drum beating out the truth of a complex point of origin where "nothing has changed" since the sixties. "This ain't no kinda scene, not like I've ever seen." If you just got out of high school, you'll understand this song better bye and bye. "I hang out with singers, bunch of glass jaw bleeders." Okay, there's some poetry here. "This ain't no kinda scene." It's probably your hometown. Mine for sure.
As I look back over what I've written here, I'm not sure I really captured this band. I think they got this album right, and that's what really matters. This is a great group to see live, and you won't miss your TV, I guarantee that. "BLUEBIRD" feels like a live performance as much as can be expected. I really really like this one.
THE WACO TRAGEDIES ARE:
BRIAN WRIGHT- Guitar, Vocals, Piano, Mandolin, Harmonica
JASON "ACE" GONZALES- Guitar, Lap Steel, Banjo, Mandolin
THE DEACON- Drums, Percussion
KEVIN LACEY- Upright Bass
BEN LOORY- Mandolin, Accordian, Concertina
JOE PURDY- Vocals, Guitar, mandolin, Banjo, Piano
MICHAEL STARR- Fiddle
HONORARY MEMBERS:
WILLIE C.-Bass, keys
AL SGRO- Keyboards, percussion
SODA- Vocals, Banjo, percussion
CATHERINE FEENY- Vocals
CLICK ON THE PIC BELOW TO VISIT BRIAN WRIGHT & THE WACO TRAGEDIES
 THE PIC HERE IS OF THE FIRST ALBUM "DOG EARS"
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