TOMMY TALTON
''LET'S GET OUTTA HERE''
2012
45:05
1. Let's Get Outta Here/3:34
2. You Can't Argue With Love/3:57
3. Dream Last Night/5:13
4. Make It Through the Rain/3:48
5. Slacabamorinico/4:31
6. Where Is the World?/4:06
7. Recent Rain/4:30
8. Sunk Down in Mississippi/3:06
9. If Your Attitude Is Funky (Nobody Wants Your Monkey)/3:46
10. Half of What She Is/3:09
11. Momma Julie Remembers/0:48
12. Give a Little Bit (Tribute to Levon Helm)/4:36
REVIEW
BY CDBABY
On Talton’s third release from Hittin’ the Note Records, titled Let’s Get Outta Here, he has written the most compelling music of his career. Always known as a gifted wordsmith and creator of authentically timeless melodies, Tommy has reached deep within his creative well to create a classic Southern masterpiece. VERY Special guest include Chuck Leavell, Paul Hornsby, Rick Hirsch, Scott Boyer, NC Thurman, Bill Stewart, Kelvin Holly, Brandon Peeples, David Keith and Tony Giordano.
ALBUM NOTES
Attending Tommy Talton's live shows recently has been quite like visiting a community garden every week or so, just to see what has popped up out of the ground. He has germinated, nurtured, and developed some of the finest music of his 45 year career during the past year. Talton has obviously given considerable thought to "Let's Get Outta Here," and the songs that distinguished themselves enough to be included on this CD. The notes and individual musical elements created on this recording aren't stacked like cordwood, or the layers of a cake, they mesh together perfectly as if every note depends on every other for their very existence. David Keith, engineer, co-producer with Talton, percussionist, and owner of Gintown Studio in Graysville, AL is responsible in part for the quality, and intricacy of this recording.
Great music should take the listener far away from everyday life. This album undeniably does that. The CD opens with the title track, Let's Get Outta Here, and whisks the listener down I-26 in this catchy, horn-driven, foot-tapping, breezy nod to Carolina's Beach Music scene. Talton's solid rhythm and blues roots shine here, and long-time friend Kelvin Holly steps out on lead guitar. You Can't Argue With Love was co-written with Rick Hirsh of Wet Willie fame, and is the only track on this album not written wholly by Talton. This track lures the listener across the Atlantic to meet England's Royal Family, and showcases Talton's soaring slide guitar, and formidable vocals. The arrangement, and thickness of the production here is reminiscent of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound recordings.
The next track, Dream Last Night, is meditative proof of Talton's ability to wrap the listener in a warm blanket of notes, and coax them to follow him wherever he chooses to go. Stern warning and disclosure here: Don't close your eyes during this track, because you could just wake-up anywhere...or nowhere at all. Talton's trademark slide guitar and Rick Hirsch's ethereal guitar coexist like smoke rings on a windless day.
Make it Through the Rain brings lifelong friend and Cowboy band mate, Scott Boyer, onboard to sing harmony vocals for the first of several tracks. This heartfelt ballad showcases the delicacy of Talton's songwriting, and the gracefulness of his acoustic guitar styling. This track is a fall day stroll down a leaf covered country road in the mountains of North Carolina. The listener can almost hear rain dripping from the eaves in this subtle masterpiece.
Slacabamorinico is a real-life story (Google Slacabamorinico if you don't believe me), set to a rollicking New Orleans, Second Line, horn, bass, and piano driven parade march. This track dances the listener through the streets of NOLA, and eventually on through the streets of Mobile, AL. Talton is joined again by Boyer on vocals, as well as an array of former band mates and friends, including Allman Brothers and Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell, and human metronome, Bill Stewart (drums). The horn section here including Chad Fisher (trombone), Shane Porter (trumpet), and Brad Guin (saxaphone), amply challenge Leavell's finessing barrelhouse piano. This track also includes the nastiest, funky four-note guitar lick since Blackhearted Woman.
Where is the World reaches out to blues, and rock fans, but also exudes an edgy, mindful folk, and Americana vibe. Talton is joined by old friends, Kelvin Holly (rhythm guitar), Paul Hornsby (organ), Bill Stewart (drums), Brandon Peeples (bass), and Chuck Leavell (piano), making this track musically pristine. Recent Rain again finds Talton tugging at the listeners heart lyrically, and with notes that cry cinematic with this gut-wrenching ballad about a great love found, and lost. Talton, the master of moods, consoles that all of this heartache shall wash away, just like the Recent Rain.
The classic, electric slide driven Sunk Down in Mississippi sweeps the listener down the big muddy to the Mississippi line. Here he chronicles Robert Johnson's fatal, true-life story, explaining that it really was not the poison, or pneumonia that killed Johnson; it was the woman that turned his head. Talton electrifies six strings in a musical tornado that testifies to some of Johnson's, and Talton's, finest emotionally gritty guitar work.
If Your Attitude is Funky (nobody wants your monkey) is Talton's adaptation of the old tavern anecdote that begins, "Sure she's gorgeous, but you can bet your last dollar that somewhere there is a guy that is glad she's gone." Talton tells this story with a conviction born of perspective.
Half of What She Is introduces the listener to Talton's boyhood home of Winter Park, Florida. This track is obviously a love song written for, and about Talton's mother, Julie Talton. The song fades into history with a recording that Talton unearthed, after his mother's passing, of her talking about his father; explaining how much she loved him, and how happy they were. Simply breathtaking.
Coil Talton up tightly, and watch what happens as he concludes the album with Give a Little Bit...a tribute to old friend, Levon Helm, who originally covered this funk masterpiece. Talton's wah-wah slide and Tony Giordano's bending, twisting keyboards intertwine on this track that features the rest of the original Tommy Talton Band; Brandon Peeples, bass, and David Keith on percussion. This track is the only cut not recorded by David Keith. It was laid down at Studio 1093 in Athens, GA by former Capricorn wizard, Jim Hawkins.
What is it they say? If you stay in the public eye long enough the truth is revealed. "Let's Get Outta Here" reveals volumes about Tommy Talton; as a man, a musician, and as a writer. If you are looking for a dose of nostalgia, look elsewhere. Talton is a survivor...an exception to the rule.
BIOGRAPHY
by Bruce Eder
Tommy Talton was born too late to be a fan of rock & roll's first wave -- opening his eyes to the world in the early '50s, he should have missed Elvis Presley's pre-Army days, but he didn't mostly thanks to his sister, five years his senior, who went around the family's Orlando, FL-area home singing the Memphis Flash's early records, along with those of Nat King Cole and others. His interest in the guitar began at age eight when he saw an instrument owned by one of his uncles and plucked one of the strings, and saw it vibrate and heard the sound it made, and by the time he was 13 he was pursuing the learning of the instrument in earnest.
That coincided just about perfectly with the arrival of the British Invasion, and he became a fan of a local band called the Nonchalants, who eventually became the Offbeets and whose ranks included David Duff on bass, guitar, and vocals; drummer Tomm Wynn; and guitarist Dennis Messimer. It was Messimer's departure for military service in 1966 that left an opening, and an offer to the 16-year-old Talton -- who was still a fan of the group -- to join the Offbeets, who had already made some professional recordings.
Later in 1966, the Offbeets merged with a group from Leesburg called the Trademarks, and formed We the People. This put Talton into harness alongside that group's lead guitarist, Wayne Proctor, two years older than Talton. They inspired each other with their virtuosity, not only in their playing (where they would switch off between lead and rhythm guitar and bass with Duff) but also their songwriting, and their differences enhanced each other's work, Talton into more straight-ahead rock & roll with a high level of sophistication while Proctor had a penchant for the angular and unexpected. Working both in collaboration and parallel to each other, they generated a strong array of original material, of which the highlights included Talton's "Mirror of Your Mind" and "Lovin' Son of a Gun."
We the People made a decent attempt to break out of central Florida to national recognition but never quite made the leap, instead leaving behind an impressive array of singles for the Challenge and RCA labels. In 1967 Proctor left owing to worries about the military draft, but Talton kept up the quality of his work, turning in "The Day She Dies," an exceptionally beautiful rock ballad that ended up as the B-side of their second RCA single, "Love Is a Beautiful Thing," while his next B-side, "When I Arrive," was a piece of snarling garage punk.
He basically aged out of the group, and ended up leaving at 18, after nearly three years with the Offbeets or We the People. Talton headed to Nashville (where We the People had worked for a time), and then to California, where he turned most of his attention to songwriting. Eventually, he linked up professionally with Scott Boyer, Chuck Leavell, and Bill Stewart to form Cowboy, a country-rock outfit that became a mainstay of Phil Walden's Capricorn Records, and enjoyed an especially close association with Gregg Allman when the latter embarked on his solo career, backing him on his first national tour and the perennially popular live album that resulted.
Talton was also closely associated for a time with Livingston Taylor, and eventually Talton and Boyer became the only two members of Cowboy to stay for the duration, releasing records together until 1977 and the collapse of Capricorn. He also worked with Bill Stewart in Talton Stewart Sandlin, along with Capricorn mainstay Johnny Sandlin and singer Bonnie Bramlett, releasing one album in 1976. As a session player -- on guitar, mandolin, and Dobro -- he also recorded with such diverse figures as Kitty Wells, Dickey Betts, Martin Mull, Johnny Rivers, Sea Level, and Corky Laing during the 1970s. As of the early 21st century, Talton was living in Luxembourg, far from the Southern rock music scene of which he was a part during the 1960s and 1970s.
OFFICIAL SITE
''LET'S GET OUTTA HERE''
2012
45:05
1. Let's Get Outta Here/3:34
2. You Can't Argue With Love/3:57
3. Dream Last Night/5:13
4. Make It Through the Rain/3:48
5. Slacabamorinico/4:31
6. Where Is the World?/4:06
7. Recent Rain/4:30
8. Sunk Down in Mississippi/3:06
9. If Your Attitude Is Funky (Nobody Wants Your Monkey)/3:46
10. Half of What She Is/3:09
11. Momma Julie Remembers/0:48
12. Give a Little Bit (Tribute to Levon Helm)/4:36
REVIEW
BY CDBABY
On Talton’s third release from Hittin’ the Note Records, titled Let’s Get Outta Here, he has written the most compelling music of his career. Always known as a gifted wordsmith and creator of authentically timeless melodies, Tommy has reached deep within his creative well to create a classic Southern masterpiece. VERY Special guest include Chuck Leavell, Paul Hornsby, Rick Hirsch, Scott Boyer, NC Thurman, Bill Stewart, Kelvin Holly, Brandon Peeples, David Keith and Tony Giordano.
ALBUM NOTES
Attending Tommy Talton's live shows recently has been quite like visiting a community garden every week or so, just to see what has popped up out of the ground. He has germinated, nurtured, and developed some of the finest music of his 45 year career during the past year. Talton has obviously given considerable thought to "Let's Get Outta Here," and the songs that distinguished themselves enough to be included on this CD. The notes and individual musical elements created on this recording aren't stacked like cordwood, or the layers of a cake, they mesh together perfectly as if every note depends on every other for their very existence. David Keith, engineer, co-producer with Talton, percussionist, and owner of Gintown Studio in Graysville, AL is responsible in part for the quality, and intricacy of this recording.
Great music should take the listener far away from everyday life. This album undeniably does that. The CD opens with the title track, Let's Get Outta Here, and whisks the listener down I-26 in this catchy, horn-driven, foot-tapping, breezy nod to Carolina's Beach Music scene. Talton's solid rhythm and blues roots shine here, and long-time friend Kelvin Holly steps out on lead guitar. You Can't Argue With Love was co-written with Rick Hirsh of Wet Willie fame, and is the only track on this album not written wholly by Talton. This track lures the listener across the Atlantic to meet England's Royal Family, and showcases Talton's soaring slide guitar, and formidable vocals. The arrangement, and thickness of the production here is reminiscent of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound recordings.
The next track, Dream Last Night, is meditative proof of Talton's ability to wrap the listener in a warm blanket of notes, and coax them to follow him wherever he chooses to go. Stern warning and disclosure here: Don't close your eyes during this track, because you could just wake-up anywhere...or nowhere at all. Talton's trademark slide guitar and Rick Hirsch's ethereal guitar coexist like smoke rings on a windless day.
Make it Through the Rain brings lifelong friend and Cowboy band mate, Scott Boyer, onboard to sing harmony vocals for the first of several tracks. This heartfelt ballad showcases the delicacy of Talton's songwriting, and the gracefulness of his acoustic guitar styling. This track is a fall day stroll down a leaf covered country road in the mountains of North Carolina. The listener can almost hear rain dripping from the eaves in this subtle masterpiece.
Slacabamorinico is a real-life story (Google Slacabamorinico if you don't believe me), set to a rollicking New Orleans, Second Line, horn, bass, and piano driven parade march. This track dances the listener through the streets of NOLA, and eventually on through the streets of Mobile, AL. Talton is joined again by Boyer on vocals, as well as an array of former band mates and friends, including Allman Brothers and Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell, and human metronome, Bill Stewart (drums). The horn section here including Chad Fisher (trombone), Shane Porter (trumpet), and Brad Guin (saxaphone), amply challenge Leavell's finessing barrelhouse piano. This track also includes the nastiest, funky four-note guitar lick since Blackhearted Woman.
Where is the World reaches out to blues, and rock fans, but also exudes an edgy, mindful folk, and Americana vibe. Talton is joined by old friends, Kelvin Holly (rhythm guitar), Paul Hornsby (organ), Bill Stewart (drums), Brandon Peeples (bass), and Chuck Leavell (piano), making this track musically pristine. Recent Rain again finds Talton tugging at the listeners heart lyrically, and with notes that cry cinematic with this gut-wrenching ballad about a great love found, and lost. Talton, the master of moods, consoles that all of this heartache shall wash away, just like the Recent Rain.
The classic, electric slide driven Sunk Down in Mississippi sweeps the listener down the big muddy to the Mississippi line. Here he chronicles Robert Johnson's fatal, true-life story, explaining that it really was not the poison, or pneumonia that killed Johnson; it was the woman that turned his head. Talton electrifies six strings in a musical tornado that testifies to some of Johnson's, and Talton's, finest emotionally gritty guitar work.
If Your Attitude is Funky (nobody wants your monkey) is Talton's adaptation of the old tavern anecdote that begins, "Sure she's gorgeous, but you can bet your last dollar that somewhere there is a guy that is glad she's gone." Talton tells this story with a conviction born of perspective.
Half of What She Is introduces the listener to Talton's boyhood home of Winter Park, Florida. This track is obviously a love song written for, and about Talton's mother, Julie Talton. The song fades into history with a recording that Talton unearthed, after his mother's passing, of her talking about his father; explaining how much she loved him, and how happy they were. Simply breathtaking.
Coil Talton up tightly, and watch what happens as he concludes the album with Give a Little Bit...a tribute to old friend, Levon Helm, who originally covered this funk masterpiece. Talton's wah-wah slide and Tony Giordano's bending, twisting keyboards intertwine on this track that features the rest of the original Tommy Talton Band; Brandon Peeples, bass, and David Keith on percussion. This track is the only cut not recorded by David Keith. It was laid down at Studio 1093 in Athens, GA by former Capricorn wizard, Jim Hawkins.
What is it they say? If you stay in the public eye long enough the truth is revealed. "Let's Get Outta Here" reveals volumes about Tommy Talton; as a man, a musician, and as a writer. If you are looking for a dose of nostalgia, look elsewhere. Talton is a survivor...an exception to the rule.
BIOGRAPHY
by Bruce Eder
Tommy Talton was born too late to be a fan of rock & roll's first wave -- opening his eyes to the world in the early '50s, he should have missed Elvis Presley's pre-Army days, but he didn't mostly thanks to his sister, five years his senior, who went around the family's Orlando, FL-area home singing the Memphis Flash's early records, along with those of Nat King Cole and others. His interest in the guitar began at age eight when he saw an instrument owned by one of his uncles and plucked one of the strings, and saw it vibrate and heard the sound it made, and by the time he was 13 he was pursuing the learning of the instrument in earnest.
That coincided just about perfectly with the arrival of the British Invasion, and he became a fan of a local band called the Nonchalants, who eventually became the Offbeets and whose ranks included David Duff on bass, guitar, and vocals; drummer Tomm Wynn; and guitarist Dennis Messimer. It was Messimer's departure for military service in 1966 that left an opening, and an offer to the 16-year-old Talton -- who was still a fan of the group -- to join the Offbeets, who had already made some professional recordings.
Later in 1966, the Offbeets merged with a group from Leesburg called the Trademarks, and formed We the People. This put Talton into harness alongside that group's lead guitarist, Wayne Proctor, two years older than Talton. They inspired each other with their virtuosity, not only in their playing (where they would switch off between lead and rhythm guitar and bass with Duff) but also their songwriting, and their differences enhanced each other's work, Talton into more straight-ahead rock & roll with a high level of sophistication while Proctor had a penchant for the angular and unexpected. Working both in collaboration and parallel to each other, they generated a strong array of original material, of which the highlights included Talton's "Mirror of Your Mind" and "Lovin' Son of a Gun."
We the People made a decent attempt to break out of central Florida to national recognition but never quite made the leap, instead leaving behind an impressive array of singles for the Challenge and RCA labels. In 1967 Proctor left owing to worries about the military draft, but Talton kept up the quality of his work, turning in "The Day She Dies," an exceptionally beautiful rock ballad that ended up as the B-side of their second RCA single, "Love Is a Beautiful Thing," while his next B-side, "When I Arrive," was a piece of snarling garage punk.
He basically aged out of the group, and ended up leaving at 18, after nearly three years with the Offbeets or We the People. Talton headed to Nashville (where We the People had worked for a time), and then to California, where he turned most of his attention to songwriting. Eventually, he linked up professionally with Scott Boyer, Chuck Leavell, and Bill Stewart to form Cowboy, a country-rock outfit that became a mainstay of Phil Walden's Capricorn Records, and enjoyed an especially close association with Gregg Allman when the latter embarked on his solo career, backing him on his first national tour and the perennially popular live album that resulted.
Talton was also closely associated for a time with Livingston Taylor, and eventually Talton and Boyer became the only two members of Cowboy to stay for the duration, releasing records together until 1977 and the collapse of Capricorn. He also worked with Bill Stewart in Talton Stewart Sandlin, along with Capricorn mainstay Johnny Sandlin and singer Bonnie Bramlett, releasing one album in 1976. As a session player -- on guitar, mandolin, and Dobro -- he also recorded with such diverse figures as Kitty Wells, Dickey Betts, Martin Mull, Johnny Rivers, Sea Level, and Corky Laing during the 1970s. As of the early 21st century, Talton was living in Luxembourg, far from the Southern rock music scene of which he was a part during the 1960s and 1970s.
OFFICIAL SITE
