Artist:     The Shootouts

Album:     Quick Draw

Label:     Shootouts Music

Release Date:     05.10.2019

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You won’t find gunfighter ballads on the debut album of this Western swing and honky tonk quintet, despite that there’s a nostalgic Red Ryder-style illustration of two cowboy gunslingers about to blast each other into dust on Boot Hill. Instead of hot lead, Shootouts marshall Ryan Humbert has opted for his chief guitarslinger, Brian Poston on Telcaster hot licks, and ringer deputy Al Moss, who was brought in for the recording to play steel guitar, where he wisely stays off the pedals most of the time to authenticate the original flavor of Western swing.

Fine original tunes flesh out this nice mix of both twang and teardrops. Some like “Losing Faithful” or “Reckless Abandon” sound like they could have been written back in the ’40s and ’50s, for Hank Snowor Tex Williams, or further down the trail in the era of Emmy Lou’s Hot Band and the bands that followed her trail like Dwight Yoakum and Marty Stuart.

There are some bona fide standout songs on here. Perhaps none stronger than “California to Ohio,” a true tale about Ryan’s grandfather, who in 1953 hitched home 2,500 miles from Camp Pendleton, in Southern California, to Hartville, Ohio, to see his newborn child. Written with veteran tunesmith Kim Richey, the song has a perfect melody for setting the story and those tiny lyrical details (like hearing Johnny Ray on the radio in the backseat of the ’49 Mercury), that make you want to go for the long ride. So long, that they reprise it as bonus track with the addition of strings and it’s truly worth hearing again. Speaking of rides, “Quick Draw,” the title tune and lone instrumental, tips its Stetson to steel guitar standards like “Remington Ride.”

I would have liked to have heard more from Emily Bates, whose role is relegated to a limited harmony singer. When she does the duet “If We Quit Now” it brought up memories of Emmy Lou’s “Together Again.” I would think it would have been nice for her to do at least one song to be featured on. I know that economics, logistics, and personalities always play a main part in keeping a large band together. How Ray Benson has managed to pull it off for 50 years with Asleep At The Wheel is a true hat trick, pun intended. The trail the Shootouts are on really calls for at least a full time steel player for their live shows. To whoever credit (the producers?) it was to add in steel, fiddle and piano, to do justice to these tracks, it was the right call.

—Ken Spooner