Lembo Allen was born and raised in Luling, Texas to a musical family from where he gained exposure to music of every stripe. He played trombone in high school, was involved in music during his college and law school years, and has sung with various bands throughout his life. However, it wasn't until recently that Lembo considered a career in music. Although he personally enjoys many styles of music, he's partial to performing country music. Lembo cites performers who include Ray Price, Johnny Bush, Darrell McCall, Bob Wills, Mel Tillis, Charlie Pride, Merle Haggard, George Strait, and Jody Nix as his favorites and influences. He prefers the shuffles, waltzes and western swing that encompass the traditional Texas Dancehall sound, of which he hopes to carry on the torch. Lembo's of the mind that a song can never have too much fiddle or steel guitar.

Dancing Room Only is Lembo Allen's debut album on which he performs some of his favorite Texas Dancehall songs. To accomplish his goal, Lembo managed to gather quite an impressive roster of musicians to back him. They include Asleep At The Wheel's Jason Roberts (fiddle, lead and rhythm guitar, bass, harmony vocals) and David Sanger (drums), Jim Murphy (steel guitar), John Michael Whitby (piano. harmony vocals), Kevin Key (lead guitar) and Al Quaid (bass).

Sadly, the closest Lembo gets to a waltz is a swaying shuffle, an outstanding cover of "There's Still A Lot Of Love Left In San Antone." But he does offer two Bob Wills western swing classics, a stellar rendition of "Take Me Back To Tulsa" where Lembo graciously shares the spotlight with Jason Roberts' impeccable fiddle playing and a terrific version of the immortal "San Antonio Rose." Another standout (and a personal favorite) is a swinging cover of Webb Pierce's infectious, "I Ain't Never." Lembo delivers a standout two-stepping take on Moe Bandy's "Bandy The Rodeo Clown." 

Shuffles make up the rest of the album. While most of the songs on Dancing Room Only are instantly recognizable, Lembo did manage to throw me a couple of nicely done curve balls with lesser known songs I wasn't familiar with. One is "Cinderella," originally a hit for Tony Booth and the other is "Big Blue Diamonds," originally a hit for Jacky Ward. He adds a nice smoothly jazzy touch to "You're In Love With The Wrong Man," and Lembo knocks Justin Trevino's "Two Empty Glasses" and Johnny Bush's "Undo The Right" out of the park, delivering two sterling performances.

Lembo Allen stated he hoped to revive the sound of Texas Dancehall music. With performers like Johnny Bush, Asleep At The Wheel, Justin Trevino, Curtis Potter, Geronimo Trevino and Jody Nix, to name a few, out there and going strong, I'm not sure "revive" is quite the right word. However, it is good to welcome Lembo Allen to their ranks as another performer of that caliber. The only complaint with Dancing Room Only is that it's too short for such great music. True, good things come in small packages, and hopefully his next album will be longer to provide for more dancing time to go along with his great music.    

On The Net: www.lemboallen.com

AnnMarie Harrington TakeCountryBack October 2004