Artist: Robbie Fulks & Linda Gail Lewis
Album: Wild! Wild! Wild!
Label: Bloodshot Records
Release Date: 8.10.18
On their best behavior, Robbie Fulks and Linda Gail Lewis get some of that old-time religion via their sunny, buoyant gospel stroll down “On the Jericho Road.” Credited to the evangelist Rev. Don McCrossan, it’s song of salvation from the 1920s that Lewis used to sing with her older brother, rock ‘n’ roll originator and incorrigible hellcat Jerry Lee Lewis. Her playful duet with Fulks sounds as fresh as a daisy on the lively, appropriately titled Wild! Wild! Wild!
As rowdy as the most notorious, backwoods honky-tonk, the bulk of Fulks’ spirited collaboration with Linda Gail Lewis—a firecracker in her own right, who pounds the piano with just as much feverish passion and imagination as her more famous sibling—isn’t appropriate for church. Devilishly fun, good-natured boogie-woogie and jump swing mix with heated rockabilly, swooning country heartbreak and deep soul in traditional, genre-hopping songs that drink down Fulks’ witty lyrical insights like shots of grain alcohol. The autobiographical litany of past, youthful misdeeds and man troubles that a gleefully unrepentant Lewis cops to in the full-throttle, swaggering opener “Round Too Long” might offend the delicate sensibilities of devout parishioners, just as the rollicking, hip-shaking frenzy of similar ’50s-style rock ‘n’ roll riots such as the audacious title track and “Boogie Woogie Country Gal” would send them into complete hysterics. Energetic and sweaty, the delightfully quirky “It Came from the South” is a hard-driving, barreling workout worthy of NRBQ. Not surprisingly, the track was co-authored by former NRBQ guitarist Al Anderson. The beloved party band’s current six-string slinger Scott Ligon absolutely tears it up on the song.
Aching country-and-western shuffles “I Just Lived a Country Song” and “That’s Why They Call It Temptation” penned by Fulks, still one of Americana’s best and brightest songwriters, mingle here with the simmering, Stax-style soul/R&B and organ smog of “Foolmaker,” while “Memphis Never Falls from Style” offers up languid, Big Easy jazz that slowly bumps and grinds as the coolest lazy horns wake up arranged beautifully, but with a brassy hangover. With a twinkle in her eye, Lewis steals the show, of course, on Wild! Wild! Wild! Like Jerry Lee, she’s a brazen force of nature, with a strong, commanding voice that’s suggests hard-earned resiliency from all that life has thrown at her. And she clearly loves to have a good time, as does Fulks. They have undeniable chemistry on a warm, vintage sounding LP—with a pronounced Southern accent and twang – that’s engaging and outrageously entertaining. Guest contributions from the likes of Telecaster titan Redd Volkaert and jazz master Eric Schneider add some tasteful touches, too. As shotgun marriages go, this one has a better shot than most.
—Peter Lindblad
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