Rock N Roll City
Can a flamboyant Chicago bluesman with a penchant for Native American headdresses find musical happiness with a twangy Tennessee combo that favors surf instrumentals and Mexican wresting masks? This unlikely collaboration triumphs over differences in genre, geography, and headgear, finding its common denominator on the retro jukebox and roadhouse dance floor. After raiding the vaults for rave-up versions of "You're Humbuggin' Me" and "Ding Dong Daddy," the Chief and band proceed through mainly original material in a similar throwback vein. From the noirish instrumental of "Monkey Paw" to theChuck Berry-style knockoff "Hillbilly Blues" to the Sun Records homages "Back Down to Earth" and "Old Time Rocker" to the ladies-choice slow dance of "Before This Song Is Over," the soulful-singing, guitar-stinging Clearwater settles naturally into the grooves laid by these masters of reverb and rhythm.--Don McLeese