Live Review
Randy McAllister
Bamboo Room – Lake Worth, FL
April 16, 2005
by Dave “Doc” Piltz
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"Keeping the Blues Alive Award" Achievement for Blues on the Internet Presented by The Blues Foundation
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Randy McAllister is a regular and popular visitor to the Twin Cities, so I was stunned when I realized that I had not seen Randy perform in four years (almost to the day). Almost as remarkable is the fact that the previous time that I saw Randy perform was on a trip outside of the Twin Cities. Such was the case for my second visit with Randy McAllister when I saw him put on an entertaining and almost wholly original show at The Bamboo Room in Lake Worth, Florida.
The fact is that the audience (myself included) was lucky just to be hearing Randy perform. As it turned out, the band had driven all the way from Dallas, Texas only to do the show at The Bamboo Room. As it turned out, according to Randy, the rest of the Florida tour had unraveled on the band, but he felt obligated to do the one show that was still on his calendar. I am happy to say that for the audience, it was worth the trip.
On McAllister’s visit to The Bamboo Room, he was working with a whole new band since I had last seen him. For this show, McAllister took responsibility for all drumming, harmonica and vocals (all barefoot – a trademark of McAllister’s performances), capably back up by Matt Woodburn on guitar and Danny Williams on bass. As is typical for a Randy McAllister show, the band played mostly original material, including only a few covers including nice versions of John Hiatts’, “Feels Like Rain”, Ivory Joe Hunter’s “Since I met You Baby” and Slim Harpo’s “Hip Shake Baby.”
Many of the original songs for the evening came off of Randy’s latest independent release, A Little Left of Center. Also typical for a McAllister show was the fact that many of the songs were filled with ”tongue-in-cheek” lyrics and stories about experiences that Randy has had in his musical quest. Along with some of his “standards” like $127 Sandwich” where Randy talks about bouncing several checks when he did not get paid for a gig and misjudged his account balance while on the road. The chorus line says it all when Randy lamented when he ended up paying “127 dollars for a ham and cheese sandwich and a bag of Fritos at the Stop & Go.” Original material from his latest CD included “Brother Bob’s Church and Casino,” “Wondering Shepherd,” and one of my favorites for the evening “Trying Not to Lose It in Minnesota”; a great song about being harassed by a Minnesota “rube” when the band was playing a show in Rochester, Minnesota. Matt Woodburn’s guitar work was exceptional, particularly on songs like “You Got Nobody to Blame But Yourself” and “When I Get Home,” where Woodburn dueled it out with McAllister who was playing a mean rub board at the time. The band’s repertoire included that standard blues and boogie, inflected with a bit of honky tonk, rockabilly, country and even a little polka. The first set finished off with one of my favorite McAllister tunes “Texas Thing,” complete with McAllister roaming around the room, drumming on anything that was available and excerpts from classic Texas anthems like “Deep in the Heart of Texas” and “The Eyes of Texas are Upon You.”
The performance by Randy McAllister and company at The Bamboo Room in Lake Worth was exciting and entertaining for everyone in attendance. McAllister is talented and plays with a lot of energy, making any performance worth the visit. To find out more about this fine Texas musician and his upcoming gig schedule, visit the official Randy McAllister website at www.randymcallister.com.
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