Search - Farmers :: Loaded

Ah, Country Dick, We Miss Ya! (And you too, Buddy)

Timothy P. Young | Rawlins, WY, USA | 06/11/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"And that should be indicative of this review. This ain't The Beat Farmers. It's The Farmers...three original members of the band (Jerry Raney, Rollie Love, and Buddy Blue) plus a new drummer (Joel Kmak). Obviously, Country Dick Montana was a little busy pounding the skins for the Heavenly Garage Band, so he couldn't be here with us.



There are great things about this album. The interplay between the musicians is fantastic, and Buddy Blue's slide guitar weaves in and out of the mix, bringing a lot of songs that tasty "Tales of the New West/Glad'n'Greasy" feel that made it such a terrific record. Blue and Raney's vocals are as clear, emotive, and expressive as they ever were on those early BF albums, and the songwriting is good, if only occasionally inspired.



And there's the true downfall of this record, the thing that keeps it from greatness. All the tracks were written by either Raney or Blue, and while there's not a clunker in the bunch, Loaded is missing the humor of Country Dick's contributions and more importantly, the songs of Paul Kamanski, who was as important to early Beat Farmers as Keith Reid was to Procol Harum. Kamanski wrote such Beat Farmers 'classics' as 'Bigger Stones,' 'California Kid' and 'Blue Chevrolet.' Raney and Blue, between them, of course, get full credit for 'Glad and Greasy,' 'Gun Sale at the Church,' 'Lonesome Hound' (Blue), 'Selfish Heart,' and 'Where do they Go?' (Raney)



To be fair, the album does boast Blue's moving, incredibly well-played tribute to Country Dick, "Watching the River," presented here in an alternate take than the one from the Tales reissue. And there IS a sense of humor personified by songs like "Uncle Stinky," "Sunbeam Lake," and "Beans and Weenies." It's just not the rollicking, booze-laden sort of humor the Beat Farmers were famous for.



Musically, it flirts with that early Farmers sound, but more often occupies that territory the Blasters used to stake out. Infectious honky-tonk blues with a twang that really brings out the fun in the Farmers.



Unfortunately, Buddy Blue has also passed on, so this promising new beginning for the Farmers will have to be thought of as only that.



This is truly good stuff for Beat Farmers fans and fans of Americana alike. Just remember, this ain't the Beat Farmers...but it's still better than ninety percent of the music flooding the airwaves today.



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