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americana, honky tonk,electric, acoustic, quirky fun tunes, some old time and bluegrass, sometimes hinting at punk rock
Genre:
Country: Americana
Release Date:
2010
A Sunday Night Roast
Walter Spencer
© Copyright-Walter Spencer
(884502373448)
Record Label: Walter Spencer
SPECIAL: 20% discount if you buy more than one copy of it today!
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Walter Spencer – “Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap” from “A Sunday Night Roast”
February 3rd, 2010
I love my fake music blogging job. Writing about such great music day in and day out is inspirational. It really is.
I somehow stumbled upon Walter Spencer and his new record A Sunday Night Roast a couple of weeks ago.
It took some work to get this up on the site so I hope you like it.
Walter’s from LA, but his music would be more comfortable in the Appalachian Mountains, or Baton Rouge, or Austin.
He plays an odd mix of americana, bluegrass, honky tonk and hippy folk. If this wasn’t recorded in a shack up in the mountains it certainly should have been. I’m not sure of the story behind “Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap” but this tale of contraband soap that gets an Orange County man arrested is pretty classic (esp with lyrics like: “was it crack
cocaine or heroin or a little bitty bag of dope? nope he had a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap” and
“it makes my balls tingle, but it don’t get me high”).
Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap
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(from seancarnage.com)
A Sunday Night Roast is remarkable for the sturdy yet clear recording, the superb singing and playing, and Spencer’s ability to switch from raucous to gorgeously heartfelt material in a split second. The title track, “Let’s Have a Party” (which is full of humorous local shout-outs) and the boozy “I’m A Mess” all recall the freewheeling, traditional fun of Spencer’s performance at 1642. But for me, the real standouts on A Sunday Night Roast are the delicate “Let’s Dance” (not the Bowie song) and “Gone With The Wind.” Both tell tales of wretched characters whose only salvation is music. Chilling.
Another track that jumped out is “Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap” which recalls the story of our pal Don Bolles’ 2007 arrest in Orange County. “Was it crack cocaine or heroine or a little bitty bag of dope?” Walter Spencer sings questioningly. “No”—Spencer answers himself—”He had a bottle of Dr Bronners magic soap!” “It makes my balls tingle but it doesnt get me high,” Spencer concludes, ratifying Bolles’ eternal place in music myth.
The last song, “Bi the Way,” has Walter Spencer chucking the whole Americana sound for a flirtation (quite literally) with the homosexual lifestyle and heavy rock drums. Rad!
Get Walter Spencer’s new album, A Sunday Night Roast
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Laid-Back California Folk/Punk Singalongs
author: Hearth Music
I know Walter Spencer best as the bass player for the Northwest's premier alt-old-time band, The Water Tower Bucket Boys. He's got a crazy sense of humor in the band, and when I saw them live at El Corazon in Seattle, he led the band in a rousing rendition of "Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap", a song he wrote about the true story of a friend that got busted for contraband thanks to a bottle of Dr. Bronner's. This song has the excellent chorus "It makes my baaaaallls tingle, but it don't get me high!". While a treatise on testicular tropes in American folk song may not be appropriate for this review, suffice it to say that Walter joins a rich history of folk musicians drawing from this particular aspect of the human condition. Walter was kind enough to send me a copy of his new CD, A Sunday Night Roast, which features all-original songs and tunes and guest appearances from his many friends in the old-time/bluegrasss worlds. These friends range from Irish accordionist Johnny B. Connolly to French Acadian singer Nadine Landry, old-time fiddler Sammy Lind of Foghorn Stringband, and Josh Rabie and Cory Goldman of The Water Tower Bucket Boys. It's a fun CD and it sounds like it must have been a blast to record. There's a laid-back vibe to the album that I can only attribute to Walter's roots in the punk and folk communities of Los Angeles. These are the kind of songs you'd hope to sing along with at beach bonfires in LA, or in hippie communes in the hills of Southern California. It's not the most-PC album you'll hear (thank God!), but Walter's good nature shines throughout and welcomes you into to his delightfully warped worldview.
-Devon at Hearth Music
www.hearthmusic.com
http://www.hearthmusic.com/blog/index.html
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