his Fly-rite Boys
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A nightclub would seem to be the domain of happy people. But for every gleeful patron on the dance floor, there is one sitting glumly in a corner drinking alone. Misery is often just a bar stool away. That fact isn't lost on Robert "Big Sandy" Williams of the West Coast roots rockers Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys. The quintet, which is based in Anaheim, Calif., has made a living for more than a decade playing an infectious blend of rockabilly, jump blues, hillbilly boogie, and Western swing. Those influences are present on "Night Tide," the group's latest HighTone album, but the lyrics reveal a new somberness. "It's partially a reaction to the compliments we've received over the last few years -- people telling us how happy our music makes them feel," said Williams, the group's principle songwriter. "That's a nice compliment, but I want there to be more to our music. So I thought now was time to show a wider range of emotions." "Night Tide" achieves that goal, from songs about being on the brink of despair (the Buddy Holly-style "Darkness and Dawn") to a ballad about the seductiveness of alcohol ("Tequila Calling"). The jumpy "If You Only Knew" is about a musician's lonely life, while the title track uses the sea as a metaphor for the forces that can lead to ruin. "Actually, I enjoy what I do," said Williams, the group's lead singer and acoustic guitarist. "But I've been that person on the other side. When I was writing these songs, I was spending a lot of time going to clubs and bars to see bands. I spent a lot of time observing and eavesdropping. And my thoughts would start drifting to things of the night." The album's tour de force is "When Sleep Won't Come," a grim character sketch inspired by legendary Western swing bandleader Spade Cooley. Hugely popular in the Forties and Fifties, Cooley had a personal life that was was marked by bouts with alcohol. In 1961, during a drunken rage, he beat his second wife to death in front of their 14-year-old daughter. He was sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 1969. Williams wrote "When Sleep Won't Come" from the perspective of Cooley, in prison and haunted by the memory of his crime. "I had this image in my mind of a man who had it all and lost it," Williams said. The album, however, has its light moments, as well.
Williams' vocals are as mellifluous as ever, while the Fly-Rite Boys -- Ashley Kingman (guitar), Lee Jeffriess (steel guitar), Jeff West (upright bass), and Bobby Trimble (drums) -- provide an energy that has become their protocol. The collection is fleshed out with a handful of less ominous songs such as Williams' own "I Think of You" and "Let Her Know." They even inject some humor with "Hey Lowdown!," a honky-tonk barnburner that sounds like a long-lost George Jones classic. "There were some darker songs on the first part of the album, so I wanted to end it with a ray of hope," Williams said. "Those later songs provided that." The group was jolted when bassist Wally Hersom and pianist Carl "Sonny" Leyland defected just before the recording of "Night Tide," Williams said. But the silver lining came in the form of West, who had been playing with Kingman and Trimble in a side project called Ramblin' James. Williams said he's intrigued by the possibilities created by West, who sings and contributes the jump tune "Give Your Lovin' to Me" on "Night Tide." "Musically, from the first song he did with the band I could tell it was gonna work," Williams said. "Then when he started jumping in on some of our old songs, singing the harmony part, I thought, 'This is cool, I haven't had this before.'"