There are guys out there with all the vision in the world. Sometimes they got the talent, too, but even then they need to pull a group of folks together to surround them for their vision to fly straight and true. That’s a taller order than you might think, getting a creative type with talent to bring folks into his universe in a way that improves the vision rather than leads to disaster. Some folks are pros at doing this, guys like Tim DeLaughter and Daniel Smith, while there are probably countless other names we’ll never know because they couldn’t get it done. Tony Confalone, though, that’s a name I think we’re gonna keep hearing.
The pride and joy of Somerville, Mass, Confalone did just what needed to be done. He wrote a bunch of great songs under the nome d’arte Tony the Bookie and then went out and got some folks to do session work with him to get the idea down on the record. He didn’t mess around doing so, either, getting some pretty killer help in the form of a super-solid lap steel player (Eric Provinsil), a solid rock drummer (Nick Branigan) and a guitar and bass combo (Patrick Grenham and Ello DeLuca, respectively). The end result was a sound tighter than OJ’s glove, a frontman operation where the frontman is sitting back with everybody else, getting down to some gritty, grungy countrified twang rock.
Earlier this year, the band put a sorta self-titled release, Tony the Bookie Presents … The Tony the Bookie Orchestra, and, goofy nomenclatural tendencies aside, it rules. Two of the strongest tracks on the album have been included with this review for your auditory perusal, but I strongly suggest you check out the rest of the record, too. (You can do so right here.)
Tony the Bookie – She Don’t Wear Black
