The Boss Tweeds

Proudly banning Auto-Tune, shredding guitar solos and 20-minute song structures, The Boss Tweeds have a feel-good, retro look to go along with some brand-new songs for fans.

Consisting of singer-guitarist Joe Hamilton with siblings Jody (drums, vocals) and Brad Birchfield (bass, vocals), the Mountainburg-based trio will perform the rockabilly and early rock and roll songs from its new CD, “The Boss Tweeds,” and more for a CD-release party in Fort Smith.

The free event will be held from 8-11 p.m. Saturday at Ava’s on Towson, 5103 Towson Ave., and will allow the group to display unique sounds and equally distinct ties and threads, said Jody Birchfield.

“It’s always fun playing this kind of music,” he said. “We always love to get people dancing.”

Instead of reaching for current-day pop and Hip Hop material, The Boss Tweeds remain fiercely faithful to rockabilly and early rock roots, interpreting well-loved numbers by the band’s Arkansas music heroes like Johnny Cash, Billy Lee Riley and Ronnie Hawkins.

But it’s their original material on “The Boss Tweeds,” such as the Hamilton-penned “All the Money in the World,” “Easier with Time” and “Rock and Roll Song,” that aims to please followers, reminding them of a pre-metal, pre dance-club era where the good times far outweighed the day-to-day worries, said Brad Birchfield.

“Yeah, we think it’s unique,” he said of the group’s sound and stage attire. “For the CD, Bart Sills did a good job on the band photography. We wanted to get a look that was from more than 40 years ago, and he achieved that. We’re really happy with it.”

Adding to the time capsule-like visuals is Sandra Cox’s sleeve design, boasting an early 1960s-style “Stereo” logo at the top of the cover art.

“It was a blast to record,” said Hamilton, who produced the CD at his home studio. “We tried to do it as much like it was done in the old days as we could. We all recorded in the same room together, with very few overdubs and no Auto-Tune. What you hear on the CD is what we really sound like.”

Jody Birchfield agreed. The three musicians worked on the CD for about a month, squeezing in play time in between their hectic, respective personal schedules, he said.

“A couple of the songs on the CD started out as simple demo recordings we did, just to see what we sounded like,” Jody Birchfield said. “Then, Joe put some of his studio wizardry on them and we decided to use them on the final CD, as well.”

Also setting the band apart from some other area groups is the fact that all three members sing lead vocals. On the new CD, Hamilton handles lead-vocal chores on “All the Money in the World,” “Easier with Time” and “She Ain’t No Cadillac,” while Jody Birchfield sings the main parts of “Sixteen Chicks” and “Mary Lou” and Brad Birchfield is the lead vocalist for “Rock and Roll Song.”

For Hamilton, the group’s singing is a large — and crucial — part of the overall sound.

“Our tight, three-part harmonies give the band a rich, full sound reminiscent of many of the great vocal groups of the ’50s,” he said. “Think of The Everly Brothers with an extra voice on the bottom.”

In addition to entertaining audiences, The Boss Tweeds hope to educate people on the 1950s and early 1960s, Jody Birchfield said.

“It seems nowadays, people look back on early rock and roll as something associated with poodle skirts and malt shops,” he said. “That’s all fine, but the thing that people forget is the fact that this was dangerous music in its time. It was raw and kind of wild, and it was something new that people hadn’t heard before.”

Hailing from other bands like Blue Fiddle, Ju Ju Kings, Joe Hamilton & Polk Salad and the Red Moore Band, all three of The Boss Tweeds’ members strive for energetic, professional-sound gigs, Jody Birchfield said.

“It’s not done as some ironic statement on ‘oldies,”” he said. “We try to be sincere about it and play some material you might not have heard before. This is the kind of music that really makes people want to get up and move.”
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