A venerable sideman (Chuck Prophet, John Doe, Alejandro Escovedo, Sonny Smith, etc.) and an accomplished singer/songwriter (4-star-reviewed songs  picked up for True Blood, Justified, Damages (TV), and the feature film, Tammy), Heyman—once again—gets out in front, with his own new album, Show Business, Baby.

Show Business, Baby tunes are steeped deep and long in the boogie, and delivered with a wink and a great big beat. Rounding out the eleven originals, Heyman chose two covers: “Baby My Heart” from the Bobby Fuller Four, written by the great Sonny Curtis, and “Daddy Rollin’ in Your Arms” by Dion, the B-side of his hit “Abraham Martin and John.”

Heyman gave Elmore a little history of his tune:  “Out West” is one of the first tunes I wrote for what would become my new record. I was messing around with the riff, and the opening phrase, “From The Garden State to the Golden Gate…” just  kind of tumbled out, and the rest of the song fell together really fast.

I was going for a kind of mid-’60s garage rock feel, and so we added the “Wooly Bully” style intro, and the unavoidable lyrical reference from “Farmer John,” by the great LA band the Premiers, in the second verse. I make no apologies for being a record nerd.

Like most songs have I have written, it contains a kernel of truth wrapped in layers of self-mythologizing fabrication… the last verse is  mostly fiction, since my folks are both in their ‘80s, and still rocking out. They went and saw Nick Lowe in “The Garden State” last week.

Have a listen:

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