'Ranch Party' revival

All Music Guide review,  by Jonathan Widran

Perhaps this L.A.-based trio of sessionaires called their exuberant electric hillbilly experiment "Merle Jagger" because "Mick Haggard" didn't have the right ring to it, but the hybrid idea is clear and brilliant — fusing bluegrass, hard country-rock, and jazz into an instrumental cauldron that is unlike anything any of those individual genres has heard before. Driven by Mark Christian's blazing, lightning-fast electric guitar, banjo, and mandolin, Patrick Flores' bubbling bass, and Brandon Goldstein's explosive drumming, this disc is a sh*tkicker's dream, a near hour of fast-paced, raucous party music that flies in the face of much of today's ultra slick country-pop. Think Johnny Cash on speed, and you're off to a good start on the slammin' opening track, "Ranchero," and on "Ranch Party." They crank it up even more for the appropriately titled "Hillbilly No. 9," which makes you wonder how incredibly rockin' the other eight were. "In Through the Out Take" is a little more conventionally bluesy, but "Trash Tornado" is a place where surf guitar wears a cowboy hat that just won't stay on. Even when "Granny Takes a Trip," she's flyin' off her rocker. Anyone who's ever loved country-rock, modern or classic, will enjoy the trip; these guys do their namesakes, Mick Jagger and Merle Haggard, very proud.

It's time for Town Hall Party! Even the very name went deep into history. Rural farmers had the rare festivity at the town hall as their only respite from back breaking work from sunup to sundown. Now, the hardworking tire monkeys at the Firestone plant and oil-smeared factory workers alike could gussy up and celebrate their time off from work every weekend with Town Hall Party!

Town Hall Party was broadcast from a large club with room way in the back for the dancers. Onstage, Joe Maphis was the bandleader for every show. He didn't like rehearsals, he just wanted to turn on the lights and go. Weekly regulars included Spade Cooley for a time and the Collins Kids who performed on every show. The program was so long-lived the whole Los Angeles Basin watched those kids grow up.

Everybody with real talent in country music appeared playing live. Among the guests were the genuine country greats -- Lefty Frizzel, Bill Monroe, the Carters, Tex Ritter, Ernest Stoneman, and  a "full-blooded Cherokee Indian" named Jenks "Tex" Carman. Carman played a regular flat top guitar laid flat and once in awhile after a dazzling break, he would surprise the audience by stamping his foot and letting out a real Indian war whoop. In fact, a young cowpoke named Dick Dale made his televised debut on that program, and as Dick Dale himself remembered for Jake Austen and Roctober, "Guys that would come on this show were guys like Johnny Cash before he ever wore black . . ." That's how very long ago it was.