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For Gibson, Boston Is Honky-Tonk Heaven
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by Christopher Blagg
The terms "renaissance man" and "honky-tonk singer" don't often describe the...by Christopher Blagg
The terms "renaissance man" and "honky-tonk singer" don't often describe the same person, but both fit Nate Gibson.
As frontman for his throwback country band, Nate Gibson and the Gashouse Gang, the Kansas-reared transplant is one of the leading lights of Boston's emerging honky-tonk scene.
He's also written an exhaustive book on the history of Starday Records, the most successful independent country music label and the inspiration for his new CD of Starday classics, "All the Way Home."
And let's not forget his album of Portuguese love songs. Or his book of pirate jokes. Or his day job as a tour guide on Boston's Old Town Trolley. All in a day's work.
But most of Gibson's pursuits revolve around country music, which didn't really infatuate him until he moved to Boston.
"To be honest with you, I hated country music when I was living in Kansas," Gibson said during a break between trolley tours last week. "I detested it. I listened to hip-hop and bad hair metal."
Gibson moved to Boston to attend Emerson College, where he began studying songwriting. His first assignment was to write a research paper on something he knew nothing about. He chose rockabilly music. His advisor? None other than Rex Trailer, Massachusetts' own cowboy star and host of the "Boomtown" kiddie TV show.
Gibson found himself hooked on honky-tonk.
"I was pretty fortunate to come out here and find such a vibrant rockabilly and honky-tonk scene," he said. "We didn't have that in Manhattan, Kansas at all. It's all modern country out there."
Don't get Gibson started on what passes for country music today.
"It's just terrible music," he said. "It's pop music. Country music to me has always meant upright basses, fiddles, honky-tonk piano. I don't like the big rock sound, all the distorted vocals."
His book on Starday Records, "The House That Country Music Built," co-authored by the label's co-creator Don Pierce, is still without a publisher, but Gibson isn't worried.
"It's a hot item," he said. "I'm just looking for the right person to put it out."
In the meantime, Gibson plies his other trades, sometimes mingling them together. He wrote a novelty song, "The Trolley Tour Boogie," that the tour company now plays as people board the trolley. Then there's his tribute to NECCO wafters, "The Immaculate Confection," and the self-explanatory "She Won't Wear A Bra (Cause She Don't Need It.)"
"The music that I'm most attracted to has a sense of humor," Gibson said. "I don't want to make joke songs that you listen to once and the joke is done, but I do want you to be able to smile and have fun every time you hear it. A lot of people take themselves a little too seriously nowadays."
Fortunately, the same can't be said for Nate Gibson.
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Sweet Talking Country Boy
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by Sarah Rodman
Nate Gibson and Rex Trailer bonded over Necco Wafers.
The thin little candies ...by Sarah Rodman
Nate Gibson and Rex Trailer bonded over Necco Wafers.
The thin little candies made by the New England Confectionery Company in Cambridge were so inspiring that the pair even wrote a song about them for Gibson's new self-titled album, "Nate Gibson and the Gashouse Gang."
"I have four boxes in my freezer right now," says Gibson with a laugh. As for where the beloved host of the late, lamented local cowboy show "Boomtown" got his hankering for the slivers of sweetness, Gibson explains, "When Rex did his show they used to give him crates and crates of Necco Wafers, and the kids dind't like them so he would take them home. We both love the chocolate, so we decided to write a song about them."
That duet, a jaunty little ditty called "An Immaculate Confection," is but one of several gems on Gibson's wonderfully incongruous album. The music has a hard-core, classic country feel, with upright walking bass lines, snappy acoustic guitar and pedal steel licks, and a dusty old-West feel in the steady rolling rhythms. But song titles such as "She Won't Wear A Bra (Cause She Don't Need It)" and "I Don't Need Liquor To Have A Good Time (I Need Liquor To Survive)" reveal the contemporary songwriter in teh 23-year-old Gibson.
"I want to keep the sound as traditional as possible," says Gibson, who celebrates his CD release Wednesday at the Middle East. "The people I listen to are Hank Williams and Ernest Tubb and Buck Owens. I love that sound, but I didn't live back then, so I write about what comes to mind and I try to entertain."
The album began as Gibson's senior project at Emerson College. Gibson, who graduated last year, had wanted to write an album of country music, and met local legend Rex Trailer at a Christmas party at Walker's Western Wear.
"That was the first time I'd ever heard of him," says Gibson, a Kansas native, "and I just started talking to him." When he coincidentally discovered that Trailer was an Emerson professor he immediately asked the septuagenarian cowboy to be the advisor on his project.
"He's go the most amazing country voice ever," says Gibson of Trailer, who guests alongside Grand Ole Opry yodeler Kenny Roberts, on the comical "The Remote to the TV" as well as "Confection." He also provided invaluable - and blunt - advice, says Gibson.
"I would sing something, and he woudl say, 'You can't sing that, drop it down two octaves. I don't even know why you wrote that song in G, you can't sing in G, so change it to E,'" says Gibson with a laugh.
Also lending a hand to the Gashouse Gang effort are Fuzzy vocalist Chris Toppin (who adds a smoky harmony to the plucky Johnny Horton classic "Whispering Pines"), guitarist Tom Umberger, drummer Dana Stewart of the Racketeers and Bourbonaires bassist Jon Johnson. Gibson credits Boston's vital rockabilly scene as an inspiration to get back to the country music he had rebelled against as a youth. "Coming out here made me miss it," Gibson says.
Anyone who grew up singing "cam-i-tye-yi-yippi-yippi-yay" along with Trailer on "Boomtown" will want to head over to the Middle East in Cambridge on Wednesday. "Rex is opening the show and we'll do the Necco song," Gibson says.
Although he knows this is not the most commercial endeavor in which he could be involved, Gibson is content. "In an ideal world, I'd make my living playing music," says the singer-songwriter, who enjoys driving an Old Town Trolley during the day. "I have no expectations, I've got a good day job and I've got a good night job. I'm jubilant."
Must be all that sugar.
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Yankee Country
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by Paul McMorrow
Country music is dead. Nashville killed it. But wait! Here comes Boston, the co...by Paul McMorrow
Country music is dead. Nashville killed it. But wait! Here comes Boston, the country-rockabilly capital of America, to save the genre from itself, with local boy Nate Gibson (Boston by way of Kansas) leading the charge. His second album with the Gashouse Gang, All the Way Home, is an exhuberant romp through country's golden era. Gibson tears through several hits from the Starday catalog, and the label's co-founder, Don Pierce, provides commentary on the LP's intro, intermission and outro tracks. For authenticity's sake, the record was even tracked in glorious mono. While Gibson's cheeky songwriting is as entertaining as ever (he spins tales of trolley tours and dogs that suck at hunting), it's the covers that really shine here. The record's title track, "All the Way Home," is a Spinal Tap anthem that Gibson and his band have managed to turn into the best song the Tennessee Three never wrote. Lynnette Lenker joins the band on Eddie Skelton's "My Heart Gets Lonely," and she and Gibson go at each other like John and June. Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith's "Who Shot Willie" is a crackling barn-burner, while Gibson's rendition of Wayne Raney's "We Need A Whole Lot More of Jesus (And A Lot Less Rock And Roll)" could turn most of Cambridge into Goldwater voters. Hell, there's even a cover of "Hukilau." Howd do you argue with that?
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This Batch of Local CDs Stands Out In Crowd
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by Sarah Rodman
In addition to the deluge of major, indi and tiny label releases that come across...by Sarah Rodman
In addition to the deluge of major, indi and tiny label releases that come across my desk every year, there is an equally large number of local CDs sent my way by artists of all stripes right here in our own musically-rich back yard.
The following list isn't meant to represent the "best" of the local scene- because it's impossible to hear everything - but rather a group of records that showed real quality, promise or were just a good time in 2002. Some performers have visited this space before, others are newcomers. Some discs are available at indie websites, such as cdbaby.com, and all are available at the respective artists' shows.
Nate Gibson and the Gashouse Gang (self released): Terrific traditional country with a twist of the wry. Standout track: "An Immaculate Confection," an ode to Necco wafers written and sung by Gibson and Rex Trailer.
The Figgs - Slow Charm (Earsmile)
Alexis Gewertz Shepard (self released)
Blake Hazard - Little Airplane (Kimchee Records)
The Kickovers - Osaka (Fenway Recordings)
Red Chord - Wicked...Live at the Abbey (self released)
Three Day Threshold - Behind the Barn (Pigpile Records)
Various Artists - In our Lifetime Vol. 3 (Fenway Recordings)
Peter Wolf - Sleepless (Artemis)
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Black Cat Rockabilly CD Review
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Nate Gibson and the Gashouse Gang are back in the New England country and rockabilly fold with the...
Nate Gibson and the Gashouse Gang are back in the New England country and rockabilly fold with their newest release, "All the Way Home" on Cow Island Music. This new collection of bops and boogies effectively captures the raw excitement of their live show and also the witty personalities that make Gibson and the Gang such likeable characters both on and off the stage.
The gang formed in 2001 and released their debut CD with the vocal assistance of local cowboy icon Rex Trailer, of Boomtown fame, and also the King of the Yodelers, Kenny Roberts. The group toured and promoted for two years but went their separate ways in 2004. Specifically, Gibson embarked upon a lengthy research project to uncover the history of Starday Records with the label President and Co-Founder, Don Pierce.
Upon completion of the research for that book, Gibson reassembled the Gang and began writing new material. Much like their first CD, "All the Way Home" includes several original tunes, inspired by Nate's employers (as a trolley tour driver in Boston and a people greeter at Wal-Mart), crappy hunting dogs and also truck driving, but this time the Gang has also uncovered and then covered several obscure gems from the Starday catalog. Another cover of note is the title track, "All the Way Home," Gibson and the Gang's rockin' country version of Spinal Tap's first ever song.
The Gashouse Gang responsible for the good rockin' is Jeffrey Herring on guitar (also in the Two Timin' Three), the late Jon Johnson on the upright bass (Lenny and the Piss-Poor Boys, Bourbonaires) and Tommy Long's percussion (Dogmatics). Also heard on the record is the steel guitar sliding of Rich Gilbert (Frank Black, Blackstone Valley Sinners, Uncle Tupelo), the piano plunking of Steve Toebes (Bombastics), the sweet vocals of Stumbleweeds front woman Lynnette Lenker, the not-so-sweet vocals of Kevin Stevenson (Shods, Dragsville USA) and some trumpet blowing by Gibson himself.
After releasing and promoting the first ever records of country music legends George Jones, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Dean, Roger Miller, Dottie West and countless others (as well as reviving the careers of Cowboy Copas, Johnny Bond, Red Sovine and the Stanley Bros. to name a few), Don Pierce wrote the intro/intermission/outro and liner notes to All the Way Home to help promote Gibson's new record and their book. And though it likely won't sell as well as the Starday label's many hits, we are pleased as punch with this new platter.
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Country Standard Time CD Review
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by Brian T. Atkinson
Every so often, peripheral liner notes reveal the essence of an album. Take ...by Brian T. Atkinson
Every so often, peripheral liner notes reveal the essence of an album. Take what Nate Gibson says about the song "My Big 18": "OK, kids, this is the last song. Time to gather 'round the campfire for this one. We're gonna have a happy, hand-clapping hoedown jamboree old-time get-together barn dance sing-along hootenanny truck-driving jubilee-type thing. Sing along!"
That's an accurate description of this entire album. Gibson and his Gashouse Boys are cheeky, fun, giddy and over the top. That the songs blur together in a haze of familiarity and occasional cliche can be forgiven - those are natural pratfalls of tongue-in-cheek rockabilly. In other words, Gibson doesn't revolutionize a genre, but he will thrill already dedicated fans.
Like the best, though, there's a concealed intellect underneath the dance hall drinking. "I ain't no college professor and I ain't got no Ph.D.," Gibson sings on "Divorce Me COD." "But if you want your freedom PDQ/Divorce me COD." Clever turns like those inhabit other standout tracks such as "Who Shot Willie," "Wal-Mart Wino" and the warbling "Hukilau." Brevity enthusiasts will be especially pleased - a handful of the tracks are under two minutes, none over three.
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The Noise CD Review
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by Mike Loce
Ha! Furthur proof that Boston is home to many musical styles. I thought these guys w...by Mike Loce
Ha! Furthur proof that Boston is home to many musical styles. I thought these guys were either hicks from way up in Vermont, or had relocated from the South. Turns out, they're local. They call it country, I say it's "country-style filtered through rockabilly." I can definitely hear Scotty Moore and the Sun Records sound in Tom Umberger's lead guitar. Nate Gibson is leader and singer, and really sounds like Trey (yeah, from Phish) on some of these tracks. Dana Stewart is on drums, and Jon Johnson fills out the basic quartet on bass fiddle. We have some guest stars in the country vein, including Rex Trailer and yodeler Kenny Roberts. It's a good, tongue-in-cheek, shit-kickin' (can I say that?) album, and it needs to be in everyone's party CD collection, to liven things up. The most perverse song is "Immaculate Confection." It's about Necco wafers and the factory over in Cambridge. Why perverse? These guys take an unnatural interest in the damn wafers. I'll be the first to coin the phrase... the name of Nate and the boys' music... NECCOBILLY. Good debut!
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Blue Suede News CD Review
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by Marc Bristol
This CD is introduced by Don Pierce, one of the co-founders of Starday Records. H...by Marc Bristol
This CD is introduced by Don Pierce, one of the co-founders of Starday Records. Hailing from Boston, the group is what I would describe as a Rockabilly friendly Country act. You know, upright slapped bass, the right dance grooves. They open with a song from Spinal Tap ("All the Way Home"). Nate wrote 8 of 13 tracks. "Don't Wait" has that ragtime turnaround and feel, with a rockin' beat. Lynnette Lenker of the Stumbleweeds duets on "My Heart Gets Lonely," one of three Starday tracks resurrected for this set. Among the covers are also Merle Travis' "Divorce Me C.O.D.," "The Auctioneer" and "The Hukilau Song," the latter found in the repertoires of the many proliferating Hawaiian music groups around here. Hawaiian music is the new Cajun muisc, which was the new Irish music (in the Folk music scene of the last 30 years). And also Wayne Raney's "Wee Need A Whole Lot More of Jesus (And A Lot Less Rock And Roll)." Yes, there's a steel guitar, a guest player named Rich Gilbert who appears on 7 tracks. Sounds like Boston is still a fun place!
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Bringing Punk Back Home
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February 29, 2008
By Walter Smelt
American punk was born in a dive bar and music club whose nam...February 29, 2008
By Walter Smelt
American punk was born in a dive bar and music club whose name stood for Country, Bluegrass and Blues, which is the kind of music the owner expected to book there. Instead, the Ramones started playing at CBGB's and turned the music world upside down. So in an upside-down kind of way, it seems appropriate that Somerville's own dive bar and music club should book bands whose members grew up on punk but found their way back to punk's roots in older American music: music like rockabilly, rhythm and blues, and country. Of course it's the Abbey Lounge we're talking about, which last Saturday night hosted a sold-out show in which all these traditions were represented-and not just represented, but resuscitated.
The only misstep came at the beginning of the night with a band that called itself, aptly enough, the Almighty Terribles. Unfortunately, honesty was the Terribles' only virtue.
Luckily, Nate Gibson and the Gashouse Gang were up next. This rollicking act may have been short a lead guitarist, but you never would have known it from the aplomb with which Gibson handled his own instrument, a guitar with a sparkly gold façade that looked as though it was cut from the $1000 wedge in Wheel of Fortune. His vintage pompadour, meanwhile, stood up like the fin of a '56 Cadillac.
If the front man was all rockabilly glitz, upright bassist Miles Anderson was straight-up hillbilly with a red flannel shirt and reddish beard. Completing the sound was Tom Long on drums and Steve Toebes working the piano over in exuberant honky-tonk style. All you need to know about this band is that they rocked out “Folsom Prison Blues” like it was a celebration, complete with yodels.
Oh, and Gibson also plugged his pirate joke book, which was for sale in the back. (Question: Why did the pirate go to the adult movie theater? Answer: Because XXX marks the spot. Rim-shot sound from the drummer.)
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This Ain't Kansas - Nate Gibson in Boston
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by Fred Chao
The Camry had broken down in Manhattan, Kansas. Exploring the city while the car was...by Fred Chao
The Camry had broken down in Manhattan, Kansas. Exploring the city while the car was at the shop, I ended up at Wal-Mart and, deciding between Wrigley's or Trident, I overheard a customer and an employee talking about the Wal-Mart Three. At first I paid little attention, but soon the story became very interesting.
The Wal-Mart Three was a Kansas-based band consisting of Sam Walton, Gator, and Daddy-O. On their slow but steady rise, they were challenged to a Battle of the Bands contest by a rival K-Mart band, the Blue Light Specials. After losing the battle, the Wal-Mart Three disappeared. I let the gum go and instead bought a copy of their only existing record, "Rock'n'Roll Retail Rumble."
Upon my return to Boston, I looked into the whereabouts of the trio; Sam Walton was the easiest to find information about. He passed away in 1992; his family, estate and company representatives said they had no knowledge of the band and, with more persistance, completely refused to talk with me.
Unfortunately, Gator and Daddy-O were harder to track down. I was coming up empty-handed, that is unfil I found my Wal-Mart receipt, which included the store's phone number. I called and was told that, as far as anyone knew, Gator had set aside his musical endeavors and was busy stirring up quite a racket in the bowling scene.
I tracked Gator down at the BowlMor in New York, where he had snuck into a Chase Manhattan Bank bowling party and was feasting on their caterings. Nowadays, he lives under the pseudonym Nate Gibson.
"Daddy-O and I used to sneak 30-minute bowling games," he said. "We would always use our band names, and it was as Gator that I bowled my first 200 game. Keeping it is a bit of a superstition." But he is also making an impact outside the lanes. His current project, Nate Gibson and the Gashouse Gang, has recently released a self-titled CD. Featured guests are Rex Trailer (host of the TV show "Boomtown" which aired from 1956-1974) and Kenny Roberts (nicknamed King of the Yodelers in 1947).
The CD is a western/rockabilly hybrid. Each track offers a peek at something poignant, compelling because it's so rarely seen in song. Such examples are "I Don't Need Liquor For A Good Time (I Need Liquor To Survive)" and "She Won't Wear A Bra (Cause She Don't Need It)." As the titles suggest, the songs tend not to focus on the downbeat, but highlight the silliness within a situation. Of course, each country album needs a broken-hearted ballad, which the Gashouse Gang does beautifully with "I Can't Sell My Broken Heart on eBay," where Nate sells his wife's belongings after she walks out on him. "I'm pretty damn funny and talented," he says. "Wait, I mean, it was a long and stressful process writing those songs and I don't think I can ever be truly happy with my own work."
The album offers a lot of fun, and it is apparent that the recording experience held just as much suggested by such tracks as "The Remote to the TV," in which Rex, Kenny and Nate gripe about their wives, and "An Immaculate Confection," Nate and Rex's ode to Necco wafers. "I had a lot of help coming from a lot of different directions," Nate admits. "I'm amazed at the generosity of everybody who helped. Rex has been a great inspiration. He has been a very honest friend when it comes to critiquing me and offering valuable advice."
"Right now I am focusing almost all my time and energy on the Gashouse Gang," he adds. His work has been paying off as the CD has been nomited for Best Country Album 2002 by the Massachusetts Country Music Awards Association, and Boston Herald TV and Arts Editor, Sarah Rodman, chose it as one of the "Ten Standout Local CDs of 2002." The Gang is also scheduled to appear at the 6th Annual Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender, which has drawn some of the top rockabilly acts in the country.
After the BowlMor, Nate and I took the Fung Wah to Boston where he had a show at the Plough and Stars in Cambridge. The intimate setting was transformed by Nate's relentless vigor. On stage, he rocks the way Elvis used to, before all those peanut butter and banana sandwiches. The songs are faster, louder and livelier. The best exposure to the Gang is at one of their shows. "Our live show is a lot different than the record. We do anything that makes us fun to watch as well as hear, whether it be dressing up as dinosaurs and fencing with fiery patio torches or jsut dancing with the audience while we play; we want people to be involved in the show and have a good time."
If Nate Gibson sounds familiar, there is probably a reason. He is the author of "101 Pirate Jokes" which includes a "You think you can do better, huh?" fill-in section (his contribution to the ever-popular 101 Jokes library). He also self-published two children's books "Fred and his Fisher Price Record Player" and "Duck Butt." He has also performed around Boston with his spoken-word band Luke Warm Water.
Upcoming projects include a yodeling blues album. "Kenny (Roberts) spent time teaching me some yodeling techniques and that has become a big part of what I do now." Nate is also tentatively working on a sountrack to an upcoming independent film. He is as versatile in his art as he is rare in his subjectivity.
Apparently, the Battle of the Bands was rigged. The Wal-Mart Three disguised themselves as the Blue Light Specials and wrote a whole new set of songs to put and end to their own band. This puts me in mind of American myths, Paul Bunyon and Johnny Kaw.
Paul Bunyon was originally the creation of an ad campaign. The ads were forgotten, the character was adapted into children's tales and were eventually accepted as American folklore. Johnny Kaw was created to spark interest for the Manhattan, Kansas Centennial celebration. He stood 30 feet high, five feet taller than Bunyon; he could wring out the clouds to end droughts; on of his fights resulted in the Dust Bowl. Like Johnny Kaw, Nate Gibson is a response to a story that never happened, and he's been set loose in Boston.
