'Setting the woods on fire . . .'
The Okeh Wranglers Website
'Saturday night and the bar is jammed . . .' as that Tom Paxton song goes. Paxton songs are still sung by open toed sandal folksters in folk clubs. Unfortunately it is always the same old Paxton song with his extensive catalogue of material left unsung or undiscovered. So what has this to do with the Okeh Wranglers then? Lots.
When the Okeh Wranglers perform covers they venture into a deep mine of American country music. The music of the blue collar, working people of America which has of late been rounded up at the Nashville alter of mediocrity. Music row has spun tons of it into a blue rinse of easy listening. The Okeh's are a Tennessee back porch away from all that insipid video shoot country.
The Okeh's are as welcome as roadside diner is to a trucker. And they play as sweet as Tupelo Honey into the bargain. Sat here listening to them again in what I regard as the best music venue along the South coast I can only admire their dedication to their craft.
Not only has Peter Kyme, father of the group, written a pile of material steeped in American influences but the Okeh's have managed to release three CDs and a vinyl album into the bargain. Add to this the extensive range of covers the band weave into their sets. We are talking country music, jazz standards and rock'n'roll by the truckload.
What tops all this off is the fact that they come play a pub not more than a few miles from me. The top brick of the chimney has got to be the standard of their playing. I'm sat between a couple of guitar players on Saturday night. They are going visibly green at the gills at the oldest Kyme sisters artistry on the geetar. She has that trucking guitar break and turns of phrase down to a Texas T. Louise Kyme rips it along on accordian with a sound that is rooted somewhere way South of Memphis between Texas and Louisiana. The youngest sister plays steel with enough fire to torch a picket fence.
Father Peter Kyme and Mum on double bass keep it ripping along and their son, a tad heavy handed for these ears at times rocks it along. The Talking Heads packed to the gunwhales for Saturday night love every stonking minute of it.
For some folks country music is something to put on to line dance too. Tonight there ain't a line dancer in sight. There is a room full of people taking to the floor to turn their partners, to jive, to rock and roll. The band is playing the kind of hard rocking, dancing country that truck drivers beat time at the wheel to. The Okeh's have invited Flatville Ace Jock Tyldsley to add some fine violin to the proceedings.
Hearing a pile of originals interspersed with Carl Perkins, Joe Maphis, Nat King Cole, Kelly Willis, Peggy Lee, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Elvis etc. songs is just pure West Texas heaven to me.
Plans maybe afoot for the Okeh Wrangler's to fly to Nashville, Tennessee and or Austin, Texas. If they can knock a Talking Heads audience dead on a Saturday night they can knock 'em dead anywhere.
Mike Plumbley