Record Review - 2 July 29 2000

The back cover depicts the once jolly Big Sandy dejectedly strolling down a dimly lit boardwalk at night wearing a glum expression, with the Fly Rite Boys blurred in the background. Hey! Why the long face? With nods to western swing, rockabilly, doo-wop, jump-blues and honky-tonk, Big Sandy and his red-hot band have produced some of the most grin-worthy, danceable roots music of the past decade.

Sandy and the boys are taking a slow walk down lonely street on their fourth album, and Heartbreak Hotel’s got nothing on the forlorn place they’re bound. Sure, you can still cut a rug to their infectious blend of skittering steel guitar, boppin’ bass and Big Sandy’s jovial vocals. But these infectious tunes’ breezy, silver clouds hide dark linings. On the title cut the depressed narrator is ready to either drown himself in booze or in the beckoning cold water. That’s followed by more cheery songs about death, depression, chronic alcoholism and even violent retribution (“My Time Will Come Someday”), all lyrically opposite the upbeat, swinging music Big Sandy slings out with joyful abandon.

Which is what gives this album its unusual bite. Not only are Big Sandy and his frisky four piece willing to stand in the musical shadow of Asleep at the Wheel and Bob Wills, they’re edging into George Jones territory with austere references to the despondency, despair, heartache and the general bleakness that has perennially been at the heart of classic tear-in-yer-beer country. If the suicidal title track doesn’t bring you down, then the waltz time of “Nothing to Lose” — where a battered wife graphically shoots her husband in the head after years of spousal abuse — oughta do the job.

A couple of bubbly instrumentals keep the blues at bay and musically, this joyful jump street rockin’ will still have you smiling and dancing from six to six. But when you return home, the dreams become nightmares as Big Sandy peels off his makeup and uncharacteristically shows us the tears of a clown.

Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys play the Star Bar, Fri., July 28.