The Derailers

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Honestly felt or experienced
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The Derailers have done it again. Along with producer Kyle Lehning, they’ve topped up their own ante of solid country twang with their latest release on Lucky Dog Records: Genuine.

The Fab Four of Austin have built a reputation for delivering their music with a hard edged twang embellished with dashes of uniqueness and fun. Every album they’ve made is solid country and yet breaks new ground. Genuine is no different. In a prolific field of retro-wannabes the Derailers stand apart, possessing the uncanny knack of being able to pay homage to some of country music’s finest stylists while maintaining their own recognizable identity. The band members are the genuine deal – able to separate themselves from the crowded pack of retro acts by establishing themselves as master innovators with progressive-retro flair.

The band continues to live up to its reputation of delivering solid Bakersfield twang as they kick things wide open with Jim Lauderdale’s “The Way To My Heart.” The song’s followed immediately by another Lauderdale tune, this time co-penned with Leslie Satcher, the infectious, toe tapping twanger: Take It Back.

Leave A Message For Me, Juanita gives listeners a taste that’s reminiscent of the musical Tex- Mex flavored stylings of Marty Robbins before the band slows the pace down with the Orbison-esque sentimentality and layered production of Alone With You. Boomerang Heart with it's great hooks is solid country straight from the streets of Bakersfield via the pens of Tony Villanueva, Kostas, and Jim Collins….before the band makes a decided, innovative turn.

The album is a virtual route map of the musical influences of the1960’s, a time when musical boundaries were being explored and uniqueness was the name of the game if you were looking for radio airplay. This time around along with the expected twang of the telecaster comes a rollicking Liverpool backbeat and a surf’s up undercurrent that’ll leave the most comatose listener with a tapping foot. The band takes a trip across the pond to the rock n’ roll influences of the same era with the strong harmonies of the title track, Genuine, which is followed by the tongue in cheek irony of Uncool as one of Austin’s hippest band’s muses out loud about what constitutes “cool.”

Soon thereafter the full impact of the of the album’s most memorable highlight hits with the infectious Mersey Beat edged fun of Scratch My Itch complete with an ultra-dose of finger snappin, garage band coolness. The band then slows things down for the second and last time with an emotion drenched song that sounds as if it was custom made for George Jones: Whole Other World. The band has high hopes for this song. "It just might be our time." says frontman Tony Villanueva "We say that every year, but I hope country programmers give this one some room. Country music's been down a bit, and some of the older guys we know in the business that have seen it cycle say it always comes back...and it always comes back country."

A pleasant side trip via Huntington Beach is the Buck Owens/Don Rich penned instrumental The Happy Go Lucky Guitar that showcases the band’s superb musicianship. The song was originally on Buck Owens' Buckaroos' 1967 'America's Most Wanted Band' album and ironically despite the band's reverence for the Bakersfield Sound, is the first song written by Buck that they've recorded.

You can’t be one of the coolest without even a slight connection to the coolest cat of all from Memphis – Elvis Presley. The CC Rider intro eases the listener into the soulful fun of I Love Me Some Elvis and celebrates the little bit of Elvis that's in all of us.

The last track, The Wheel, a song that the band claims wrote itself, and comes from left field with it’s bluegrass down-home feel. Tony Villanueva co-penned the tune with Ruth Ellsworth and Bill Carter and contends "Every now and then, you just gotta throw up your hands and give it up." The song's uniqueness is what makes it fit on this album that's full of intriguing turns, unexpected journeys and pleasant memories.

The Derailers have made no secret about the fact their intent is to make commercially viable music but few performers chase the lure of radio airplay with such consistent and reliable quality. Country radio is admittedly scratching their heads about where to go next to draw in new listeners. Little did they know the answers been hanging around since 1994. This album is packed full of music that would serve any station well if they'd take the time to listen and add a few of the tracks to their playlists. A must have for the collection of any fan who lives for hot country twang with a twist or two along the way.

Laurie Joulie Take Country Back March 2003