Brisbane Bop
Jimmie Rivers was the leader of a late-'50s/early-'60s eight-man house band at a Brisbane, California, nightclub called DeMarco's 23 Club. There, when they weren't backing the likes of Lefty Frizzell and Ernest Tubb, Rivers and the boys indulged their own Western swing whims.Brisbane Bopcaptures those flights of fancy, and it's a revelation. Rivers was a sophisticated, fleet-fingered player with a love for Charlie Christian and Barney Kessel, and eclectic taste in material that encompassed everything from pop standards to the odd Art Pepper cover.Brisbane Bopis culled from informal recordings made by steel guitarist Vance Terry. While they're not clean by today's standards, the CD is eminently listenable and has its own kind of honky-tonk charm. The whoops from the crowd and on-stage announcements ("Every Sunday we'll start at 7 ... so you can get drunk and go home early") gives the 19-song collection a kind of roadhouseLive at the Regalambiance.--Steven Stolder