Hillbilly boogie

Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys are kin to cool

by David Ritchie

It's not the kind of behavior that makes you the most popular kid in school, but Big Sandy spent his youth in Los Angeles thrift stores helping his father fill out a vintage record collection. He'd scour the bins for favorite artists, then try and trace their influences -- what they had been listening to. Music was his love, and his childhood was filled with it. "I kind of lived in my own little world . . . I wasn't completely aware of what was going on at the time -- the music of the day. I was caught in this other era I guess." It wasn't until his teens, though, that he stopped feeling like an outsider, when he finally began to meet people his own age with an interest in more traditional styles of music. And he still remembers the moment he caught a glimpse of his idol, Dave Alvin, in a record store but was petrified to approach him. Alvin was lead guitarist and songwriter for the Blasters, an enormously influential band who incorporated all sorts of roots music into what they called simply "American Music." The sincerity of the Blasters' music had been inescapable to the young man -- they were drawing from some of the same styles he'd been exploring, as evidenced in their signature song: "We got the Louisiana boogie and the Delta blues/We got country swing and rockabilly too/We got jazz, country-Western, and Chicago blues/It's the greatest music that you ever knew/It's American music." The writer of that song, who had made him so nervous in the record store, would eventually produce two CDs of Big Sandy's own version of American music.

Robert "Big Sandy" Williams still lives in the LA area where his Mexican-American mother grew up listening to the vocal R&B and doo-wop records of the '50s. His father was raised with country music and Western Swing (a style originated in the '30s by the dance bands of Milton Brown and Bob Wills) and later, rockabilly and surf music. "In growing up it meant so much to me that I had my father to seek out this music . . . I was hungry for it."

Today, Big Sandy leads one of the most refreshing sounding bands on the planet who use vintage instrumentation and recording techniques to create a sound all their own. Sandy handles vocals and acoustic guitar, and the rhythm section of Wally Hersom on bass fiddle and Bobby Trimble on drums has been with him since the early days, when they played rockabilly as Big Sandy and the Fly-Rite Trio. The evolution into Western Swing began with the addition of Lee Jeffriess and Ashley Kingman. Jeffriess arrived first on steel guitar, but it wasn't until Kingman joined on electric "take-off" guitar that the direction of the band began to open up. The two work together like they've been doing it all their lives, and their interplay stands out and makes a melody swing.

After Big Sandy and his Fly-Rite Boys signed with Hightone Records, they secured Dave Alvin to produce their first two albums, Jumping from 6 to 6 (1994) and Swingin' West (1995). Then last year, after the release of Feelin' Kinda Lucky, they invited sometime session pianist Carl "Sonny" Leland to permanently join the crew. Leland is highly regarded within boogie-woogie circles, but he can fly into a honky-tonk number just as easily. Big Sandy describes him as more of an all-around musician -- helping with arrangements and bringing new ideas. "I'm looking forward to our next album. Style-wise, I don't know which way we're gonna go. I think Carl's been bringing us a jazzier element, but I don't want it to be just that.

With the recent popularity of swing, Big Sandy is finding appreciative audiences in more and more venues, but it's not likely that his musical direction will be dependent on the upturn of a scene -- his music is nothing if not authentic. "I just want to take advantage of all this stuff that I have found through the years, and try to make something of our own out of it".

The kinship of the Fly-Rite Boys is very important to Sandy as he looks forward to touring and going back into the studio. This year sees the release of Big Sandy Presents the Fly-Rite Boys, a mostly instrumental CD that doesn't include Big Sandy (though the title reassures us that the band are still tight), and Dedicated to You, a R&B/doo-wop CD by Big Sandy backed by some of his and his mother's heroes from the '50s and '60s. He's also expressed an interest in some of the traditional music from Mexico, another part of his heritage he has yet to explore. And he hasn't ruled out further evolution in the Fly-Rite Boys. "So far everything that's happened along the way hasn't been by design, it's just been a series of coincidences. I'm sure chance will end up dictating what happens with us next, if we add another instrument and what that instrument will be." He stresses that the camaraderie of the band members will be as important as any factor when considering a new addition. "That helps so much on the road, and I think it ends up coming through on stage in our music, the way we interact with each other."

Labor Day weekend offers the chance to see both Dave Alvin (Sept. 6) and Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys (Sept. 5) at the Rhythm & Roots festival at the Stepping Stone Ranch, Escoheag, Rhode Island. Take I-95 to Exit 5A, then Route 3 South to Route 165 West. For ticket info call (888) 855-6940.