Ricky Byrd NYC Made 2025

 

Ricky Byrd has been around the block a few times. Lead guitar, backup vocals, and songwriting with Joan Jett's Blackhearts for more than ten years. He's in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. Touring and/or recording guitarist with Roger Daltry and Ian Hunter, and at least 25 other artists you're familiar with. He's made four previous solo records. So, a journeyman with a deep resume and plenty of talent. He can sing. 

It's a message record. The message is rock hard and have fun.

Songs are consistently strong. He wrote all of the songs, one a co-write with Southside Johnny Lyons. (Ya Get) 1 Life kicks things off with a reminder to get the most out of it. Glamdemic Blues is a tribute of sorts to Queen and glam rockers. Rhapsody in Blues (One For Jeff) is a fine instrumental in Jeff Beck fashion. Sweet Byrd of Youte and Transistor Radio Childhood dig a nostalgic groove. Alien asks what Bowie's Starman might think of our messy planet. Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Demise (Has Been Greatly Exaggerated) is what it sounds like. Then Along Comes You, Anna Lee, and Best of Times are sweet (rocking) love songs. Nothing deep, and nothing trite.

Music is terrific. Arrangements are varied and dynamic. He's got an A-list team of musicians helping him out. The recording is very good. Lots of hot guitar, hooks for the choruses, gang backup vocals, Uptown Horns on a couple. Bass, drums and keys are all killer, staffed as they are by fellow professional ace musicians. Byrd's vocals are out front, and you can hear what he has to say.

Bryd lists his inspirations as Raspberries, Stones, Yardbirds, The Who and Sam Cooke. This record sounds like that in a blender. There's a lot of sub-genres of Rock 'n' Roll these days. This one is the original, straight up. I know, it's only rock 'n' roll, but I like it.

Have A Nice Decade: The '70s Pop Culture Box 1998

Here's another in my mission to discuss my collection of box sets. This is another Rhino product, and it is excellent, so long as you want to hear this stuff again. The set consists of seven jam-packed CDs, with 160 songs arranged chronologically from January 1970 with Edison Lighthouse's Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) to April 1979 and McFadden and Whitehead's Ain't No Stopping Us Now.

The set features songs immediately recognizable from '70s commercial radio. That means there are songs in multiple genres, including Rock, Soul, Funk, Disco, Singer-Songwriter, and Pop, including quite a few cringe-worthy tunes. The only thing missing is Country music, with the exception of a few crossover hits. These are not deep cuts- everything here was a radio hit, at least top twenty on one of several possible charts. Many selections represent one-hit-wonders like Starland Vocal Band, The 5 Stairsteps, Gallery, Paper Lace, Five Man Electrical Band, and Jigsaw. The chronological presentation makes for a nice exploration of how music evolved (not much really) during the '70s. 

The set comes with a very good 89-page book that includes a couple of good essays, one of which, The Tackiest Decade in the History of Civilization, makes a strong case for it's premise. The book also includes a short blurb about each song, and plenty of pictures of artists and pop trivia. It is a fine package as these things go.

Rock: American Woman (The Guess Who), Rock And Roll Part 2 (Gary Glitter), Radar Love (Golden Earring). Soul: Have You Seen Her (Chi-Lites), Sir Duke (Stevie Wonder), Let's Stay Together (Al Green). Funk: The Payback Part 1 (James Brown), Theme From Shaft (Isaac Hayes), Tear The Roof Off The Sucker (Parliment). Disco: We Are Family (Sister Sledge), I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More Baby (Barry White), Disco Inferno (The Trammps). Singer-Songwriter: Fire and Rain (James Taylor), Sometimes When We Touch (Dan Hill), Wild World (Cat Stevens). Pop: You're So Vain (Carly Simon), Chick-A-Boom (Daddy Dewdrop), The Morning After (Maureen McGovern). 

If you're interested in just how eclectic the tracks are, it is probably easier to just take a look at the track listing at Discogs. The crazy thing was that you could easily hear any of these songs back-to-back on the same radio station in the '70s, before stations started specializing in only one genre. It's probably not one you'll sit and listen to repeatedly, but it's a great source for several '70s playlists, and a fine example of reissue programming.

Dwight Yoakam Dwight Sings Buck 2007

And why not? Buck Owens is and has always been the primary influence on Dwight Yoakam. It's hard to imaging anyone else doing a better job of covering Buck Owens' songs, although Vince Gill and Paul Franklin did a great job on Bakersfield 2013 in tribute to both Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. In fact, if you like this, that would be a great one to pick up next.

Yoakam generally does these great songs true to the original arrangements. Even some of the pedal steel guitar leads are lifted directly off the original Buckeroos recordings. And why not? Buck's originals are some of the best country music of the sixties and seventies, especially when Nashville was adding strings and "fancy" arrangements to many country hits of the day. In fact, it is in rebellion against that slick Nashville sound that Owens and Haggard staked their claim to a more basic, more direct sound, which came to be known as the Bakersfield sound.

So what is different between this and listening to Owens' originals? Well, the recording is fuller and more modern, with more bass, than the somewhat thinner sound on Buck's originals. And Yoakam has a different voice than Owens, less reedy, a little deeper, and with even more twang and that hiccup thing Yoakam does. But that's about it. The band here is exactly the way the Buckeroos were staffed. Yoakam's acoustic rhythm, Josh Grange on pedal steel, Kevin Smith on bass, Mitch Marine on drums, and the excellent Eddie Perez on lead guitar and harmony vocals (filling the big shoes of Don Rich from the Buckeroos). Bobbye Hall plays some additional percussion. 

Every song is a winner. Buck wrote most of them himself, and the rest are carefully chosen songs that fit right into Buck's style, like Act Naturally and Close Up The Honky Tonks.

Buck Owens' fans with large collections might not need this, unless they also happen to like Yoakam. And why not? Dwight Yoakam fans should own this so they can understand what inspired his work. Plus, as Yoakam records go, this one has nothing but good songs on it, not unlike This Time. A+, five stars.