Album Notes

If this ain't honky tonk music, then I don't know what is.Mike Ives-Arizona Republic (Phoenix)..............Listening to these Wagon tracks today, after having absorbed a numbing decade of determinedly manufactured music from the big labels, the experience is absolutely buoyant. Every song has a band sound, as if the whole song was played all at once by actual human beings who actually knew each other.Chuck Graham-Tucson Citizen................All you hippie cowboys out there who have been holed up with your scratchy copies of "The Adventures Of Panama Red" take heart! From out of the West, it's Chuck Wagon and the Wheels to the rescue! This Tucson Az. based band is playing some of the best and brightest country-rock and swing around. A natural progression from the Northern California school of country-rock. The "Wheels" are a crazy hybrid blend of The New Riders of the Purple Sage and Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.Steve Sagik-Austin American Statesman.............."My girl passed out in her dinner, now she's got more of it on her than in her".. Crazy lyrics and loony toons ring out fron the stage. Wild cheers and cowboy hoots echo from the sidelines. Feet stompin' and elbows knockin' on the overcrowded hardwood dance floor. An atmosphere of sheer chaotic delight permeates within the hot, smoke filled barroom. The Museum Club is seeing some of it's largest crowds in months, and it's no wonder why, Chuck Wagon and the Wheels are in town...Beth Trepper- The Northlander (Flagstaff, Az.)................Of the groups appearing before Peter Rowan, Chuck Wagon and the Wheels(from Tucson, Az.) were the crowds favorite, and with good reason. After all, anybody who sings songs like "How Can I Love You If You Won't Lay Down", "Red Hot Women and Ice Cold Beer", and "Disco Sucks" is bound to please anybody with a sense of humor. And they did! Chuck Wagon handled rock and roll as well as, if not better, than the country tunes. Their arrangements were as unique and unpredictable as their lyrics. One of the kickiest (and Kinkiest) things they did was a rendition of "Gloria" which was spiced up by a little storytelling by the lead singer. He rambled on about the night he and "Gloria" drank, did drugs, and got out the peanut butter before going to bed. The audience loved it!.Cathy Cassinos-Sacramento Union...............It's a fine collection of modern country music-country swing if you want to call it that. It has a lot of funny tunes on it, but the one that really took off was "Disco Sucks". The response to that song was highly favorable. That's why it made it to #10 on the TOP 25 FUNNY SONGS for 1979...Dr. Demento-KMET Los Angeles................The Wheels still don't have a big time record deal, but they do have a song that's made them celebrities in their home state of Arizona and gotten them airplay from San Francisco to Boston. It's called "Disco Sucks" and it comes in two parts. The first part is a perky little swing tune that notes a personal preference for "songs about drivin' trucks"; the second part features the aural destruction of a mock disco record in which a Barry White sound alike moans lasciviously while a female chorus (or could it be the Bee Gees?) chirps "disco sucks..sucks, sucks, sucks." Go figure!...Frank Rose- The Village Voice (New York)...............Among the many good parts of the Bay Area tour were the shows at the Keystone in Palo Alto. The first night included a live radio broadcast of the show, called the "Fat Fry" , so named for the station that airs the happening, KFAT. "Fat Radio" broadcasts out of Gilroy, California (which claims to be the garlic capital of the world) and is directly responsible for the band's Bay Area fortune because they gave the Wheels their first airplay. A couple of nights later the Wheels played again at the Keystone, this time playing warmup for Texas swing kings Asleep at the Wheel. One person that night asked pedal steel guitarist Neil Harry "C'mon, who are you guys really? Are you the New Riders? More than one reference was made comparing the Wheels to the New Riders of the Purple Sage..Paul Quatraro-Tucson Newsreal...............I went to an official record release bash the other night for a band that has a hit song called "My Girl Passed Out In Her Food". It's danceable, hummable and gross. The band was blasting out "Rasta Mother" when I arrived. I'll bet both Bob Marley and Jerry Jeff Walker would get a kick out of this one! Chuck and His Wheels are one of my faves on the long neck beer bottle and pearl button shirt circuit. They are absolutely the only good thing to come out of Tucson, Arizona since that Ronstadt girl (Linda isn't it?). Among thier more popular songs are "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw", "Red Hot Women and Ice Cold Beer", "Disco Sucks" and my personal favorite, "Asshole from El Paso".Peter Stack-San Francisco Chronicle..............