why big sandy matters

It's funny how long I've been a Big Sandy fan, and how he's still my favorite singer, songwriter, and bandleader. to emerge in the post-Blasters California music scene. As a vocalist, only Alison Krauss is generational equal. As a songwriter, he's probably the only guy in his field who can really get in the Johnny Mercer/Floyd Tillman realm. But he goes beyond and does things that never would have suited the Mercer era. As a bandleader, he's definitely got it together not only for the tightest, but for the band that grooves most naturally while being the most tightly arranged. That said, he and his band are the most spontaneous improvising group I've seen out of the California roots scene, especially when Lee Jeffries and Carl Leyland were in the front lines next to Ashley Kingman.

God, I saw that band a million times.

The roots scene has long been made of largely of people who are hostages to mannerism. So many bands have been so obessed with imitating somebody else's end result that "blues" and "rockabilly" and whatever else are less about music than they are about of behavior, clothing, and gear. They cop old licks and other peoples' acts. They don't really do the elemental thing of developing a personal style, block by block, step by step.

But Robert Williams (Sandy) really does. His building blocks have added up to a really rewarding personal statement, starting with the rockabilly of those first two albums, the streamlined western swing of the next two, then the Tin Pan Alley of the next two, and on out. I swear, the last thing I heard of him sounded like Goffin & King invading Town Hall Party. But his refusal to not make it jump...

He's the National Treasure of his generation, and he just gets better, more original, and more improvisational.

The Little Milton of roots rock.