Classy Women
Comments and Reviews
From Blues Trade
GARY REX TANNER and MISSISSIPPI SLIM:
No Expectations
Blues often gives you an unobstructed view into the lives of the performers. So,
it's no surprise that Classy Women--the new CD from Gary Rex Tanner and
Mississippi Slim--is loaded with good ol' laid back, pure and authentic redneck
blues. It reeks of pickup trucks, dogs, motorcycles, biker chicks, beer,
barbeque, pickin', grinnin' and Lynard Skynard. These are the kind of guys you'd
probably, if you had any brains at all, avoid making eye contact with in a bar.
But, the best blues also gives you an unobstructed look directly into the heart
of the performer, and this album does that too. And what you see when you look
in there is a genuine pleasure.
The music these guys make is just so skillfully executed, so easy, so downright
delightful, that you can't help but like them. This is a nicely produced project
with tasty guitar work on every cut, underpinned with
rollicking roadhouse piano, and, on top, vocals without an ounce of pretense.
Add in the refreshingly honest, often hilarious, straight forward lyrics, and
these guys ain't pretending to be anything they ain't. What they are is natural
musicians all...and thoroughly entertaining. As the lady said, "You don't like
this music, they mus be somethin wrong which ya."
Asked how The Biz is treating them, Gary Rex Tanner replies simply, "The Music
Buisness treats me just fine; I have no expectation and they give me no
consideration. A perfect harmony, I'd say." This writer calls such treatment a
crime however. These fine, genuine, unique, and always entertaining musicians
deserve better. Much better. What's more, audiences deserve to have the good
pleasure of seein' 'em perform.
Unfortunately these born entertainers don't play anywhere. And that is a crime
as well. Tanner has a better idea however. His idea is to continue to write and
put out "ever-improving albums annually, until I either run out of
songs or I die."
Mississippi Slim has played lead guitar for Spencer Davis, The Coasters, and
Rita Coolidge. He also produced two albums with Tanner along with other
non-blues projects. The sparkling piano and organ work on Classy Women is
supplied by Eric Bikales, "a man who plays piano like he has 6 fingers on both
hands."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ben Ohmart says:
"Like humor in your blues? This is your album, bub. It's also got some slap butt
attitude that is strictly red meat. Vegans need not apply.
What you get are simple arrangements of guitars, vocals, a bit of piano, a roll
of the organ, a continuous clip of the drums. The vocals are quite good. The
kind of voice that sounds like it's been through an unpopular war, just singing
for all the boys still alive. And the voice came back to the States, found that
his girl left him, took all the furniture, stapled the cat to the rug stairs,
and pissed in the gas tank, taking the cap with her. That's the attitude you can
just smell in this fun 53 minute cd.
This is the sort of poetry that is everyman. That is universal. And puts a spin
on the negative by sucking the poison out with laughing teeth. Hey. It's the
only way.
Just wish I could remember what Rex's voice reminds me of. Sounds like someone
famous, but for the life of me...... Oh well. Guess you'll have to buy it to
find out. Really good stuff. Oh yes, and you get the Perfect cd cover. 2 classy
women standing next to motorcycles? Well..... hahahahahahahahahahahahaha......
