Sing Out - The Wayback
It will come as a surprise (and possibly a disappointment) to those of us who were born before, say, 1960 or so, that Jim Henry's The Wayback has nothing whatsoever to do with Sherman and Peabody. As revealed in the disc's opening track, "Drive-In Movie Picture Show," it's a fond remembrance of the bygone times when an evening's worth of entertainment for the whole family could be had for "two-fifty for the carload." (Show of hands here - who hasn't ever hid in the trunk to sneak in?) With this tune and nine more original songs (there are two additional listed songs, one each from the catalogs of Doc Watson and Carl Perkins), Henry demonstrates not only an adept talent for writing songs that tell good stories, but also the ability to present them in a number of evocative settings. "Eddie And Pearl," for example, is a blues- rocker about a young pair of Bonnie-and-Clyde-type misfits that highlights Henry's ability to turn a neat lyric - she had looks to kill for/ And Eddie had a gun." "Last Call" is a country- flavored ballad with a keen-eyed view for what goes on inside the doors of a Texas honky-tonk joint that, on the outside, looks pretty much like any other. "Restless" (the Perkins tune) is a high-energy salute to rockabilly, and "1967" takes the "talking blues" style and lays it over an acid rock instrumental backing - sort of a "Woody Guthrie meets Jefferson Airplane" approach. Whatever the subject or treatment, each cut seems to fit in with the "Wayback" theme, not only in the story being told, but the arrangements are something of a time capsule themselves. And, as Henry shows on the three instrumental tracks (one is an unlisted "bonus" track at the end), he's an excellent guitarist as well. Backing Henry up is a cast that includes Kevin Barry (guitar), Bob Fishman (percussion), Richard Gates (bass) and Doug Plavin (drums) along with guest appearances by Annie and Jeannie Burns of the Burns Sisters Band. As a vocalist, Henry has a warm, slightly craggy baritone that he fits to his material well, and as his own producer, he has put together an album that varies moods and tempos, never becoming cliched or uninteresting.