Rick Shea & Patty Booker - "Our Shangri LA" - Review Page

 

CALENDAR * SCORING THE CLUBS Dec. 26, 2003 - Jan. 1, 2004 
sunday December 28 

Patty Booker & Rick Shea at the Bigfoot Lodge
      With their mutual, natural-fact blue-collar honky-tonk background, California-country duo Patty Booker and Rick Shea rate as nothing short of dreamy. Each has talent to burn, and each has put in hard time at some of the lowest taverns ever to pollute the local landscape. Their recent duet CD, Our Shangri-La, is a model of precisely where it’s at: Fine material, expert delivery and first-rate musicianship all converge on a set of alternately upbeat and embittered tales. Hammered together with the rough-hewn grace of authentic country expression, the disc manages to honor tradition even as it reaches out for previously unknown artistic territory — no mean feat. On the surface, the pair make it look so easy, but this type of crafty, manicured communication requires mastery of a byzantine course of subtle devices and shadowy nuance; in the fallow orchard of contemporary country, Booker and Shea’s harvest is almost shocking in its low-key effectiveness. Also at the Cinema Bar, Mon.. (Jonny Whiteside)


                                                 

 

Jan - Feb 04
    "Country duet albums are few and far between these days.  To my ears, however, two of the best recent examples of this dying subgenre came out in 1999. John Prine's "In Spite Of Ourselves" (on which Prine is teamed with Iris Dement, Patty Loveless, Melba Montgomery,and others), and a self-titled disc from the Two Dollar Pistols with Tift Merritt (featuring Merritt and Pistols' frontman John Howie). Unlike those, however, which center on the ghosts of duets past, Californians Rick Shea and Patty Booker rely mainly on their own compositions; one or the other of them wrote eight of the thirteen songs on Our Shangri-LA. 

   The fact that the originals are first rate makes the disc all the more striking. Shea and Booker, who appeared separately on 1992's A Town South Of Bakersfield, Volume 3, provide an updated and simmering version of classic West Coast honky tonk.  The Booker-penned "I Know What's Wrong (But I Just Can't Get It Right)" and "You", two hard country songs, supercharged by steel guitarist Gary Brandin, might go to number one if Tim and Faith sang them. 
  Shea, a member of Dave Alvin's Guilty Men, has whole lot of Hag in his voice and writing; the country legend would likely approve of Shea's "I'm No Good Without You" and "The House That We Once Lived In".  In fact, two Haggard hits are effectively covered: "You Take Me For Granted" (written by Leona Williams) and "The Bull And The Beaver" (co-written by Williams and Haggard). 
   The so-so title track takes its' cue from the George Jones / Tammy Wynette classic "We're Not The Jet Set" in its' approach, but it's not nearly as memorable. For the most part, however, Our Shangri-LA is an auspicious team effort." 
 -----Andy Turner 


 



 


Jan 29th - Feb 4th 04                                                                                                                                                                                   

 Tough & Tender
Rick Shea & Patty Booker
Our Shangri-LA
Tres Pescadores Records
Talk about chemistry: Our Shangri-LA establishes just how beautifully local scenesters Rick Shea and Patty Booker work and sound together. Produced by the San Berdu-raised, Covina-based Shea (a longtime member of Dave Alvin’s Guilty Men), this impeccable 13-song collection of traditional West Coast honky-tonk duets (most of them originals) recalls the hard country call-and-response pairings of Rose & Buck, Merle & Bonnie, and George & Tammy. Costa Mesa singer/songwriter Booker is a descendant of Okies who brings to the material a tough bite, tender vulnerability and sexual tension. Shea complements her beautifully with his deep-voiced, more nuanced phrasing and delivery. Alternately upbeat and bitter, these story-songs naturally focus on the up-and-down affairs of the heart, where jealousy and betrayal (Shea and Booker’s "Baby That Ain’t True"), deep romantic yearning (Shea’s "I’m No Good Without You") and relative domestic bliss (Booker and Jann Browne’s "Our Shangri-LA") add spice to everyday life. And true to the heartbreak that is country music, Shea’s vivid, gut-wrenching "The House That We Once Lived In" closes the album with a physically decaying home working as a metaphor for a weary, withering marriage. The timeless, rich music sparkles throughout, particularly the haunting steel-guitar and dobro playing of Gary Brandin, Shea’s twangy guitar licks, and Eddie Baytos’ folksy, rootsy accordion/washboard flourishes. But what’s most remarkable about Our Shangri-LA is how it honors country’s time-honored roots without being a slave to them. Now how unusual is that?

by John Roos


                                                



June - July 2004  #112

Rick Shea and Patty Booker Our Shangri-LA
(Tres Pescadores TPCD-4 2003)
Rick Shea, Dave Alvin's Guilty Men guitarist, never garnered too much attention for his own recordings until he teamed up with Brantley Kearns a few years ago to put out a classic traditional country album. His follow-up for the same label, while still country, is a very different album. Taking on Patty Booker as a partner (both of them are alumni of Town South of Bakersfield) the two of them have come up with an old-fashioned call-and-response type of country duet album, the kind that went out of style a few decades ago. Our Shangri-LA has become quite a favorite among Americana deejays. Among the songs not written by Shea and Booker are Leona Williams and Merle Haggard's “You Take Me for Granted” and “The Bull and the Beaver” and Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra's “Summer Wine” hit. Pat McLaughlin's “Fewer Things All the Time” is another highlight. File under “gritty blue collar honky-tonk.”  
                                                                               Paul-Emile Comeau-Nova Scotia.


Cosmic Debris                                                                

RICK SHEA & PATTY BOOKER
Our Shangri-LA

(Tres Pescadores)

       The pairings are legendary in the world of classic country music. George and Tammy, Porter and Dolly, Conway and Loretta - and now you can add Rick and Patty. Deeply rooted in the Bakersfield tradition, Rick Shea and Patty Booker have recorded an album of hard country duets that's nothing short of a masterpiece. Whether performing their true-to-form originals or digging into the songbooks of Lee Hazelwood and Merle Haggard, they sing and play every note of every song with an authenticity that makes you yearn for the old days and glad you lasted long enough to hear this one at the same time.

       Shea's become best known for his work with Dave Alvin's Guilty Men, but his roots are in the Inland Empire circuit of truck stops and roadhouses that gave us Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Patty Booker is the offspring of the Okie migration, and grew up to work the country clubs of Southern California beside performers like Billy Mize and Joe Maphis. In each case, they came up in an environment that demanded performers who could deliver straight country music, straight from the heart, and that's what they provide here. 
       If the names that led off this review don't mean anything to you, you've missed out on something special, and this disc can help you catch up. If those names are as familiar as I hope they are, you'll be glad to know that the music can still sound as good as it ever did, and there's still a country duo able to prove it. 

© 2003 - Shaun Dale
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rick Shea and Patty Booker 
Our Shangri-LA
(Tres Pescadores)
       Duet singing has fueled country music since its beginnings, both in family acts like the Delmores and Louvins, and superstar pairings like Dolly & Porter and Conway & Loretta. Nashville's recent duets have tended more toward marketing events than career paths, leaving those outside the mainstream to carry the torch. Shea and Booker, veterans of Southern California's honky-tonk scene, fan the flames of the country duet with a strong dose of the Golden State's recalcitrant twang. 
This pair of singer-songwriters first met as disc-mates on 1992's "A Town South of Bakersfield, Vol. 3." Then, as now, they charted a course through Bakersfield, with Shea's tenure in Dave Alvin's Guilty Men adding a helping of roots-rock energy. Booker's voice is reminiscent of Rosie Flores, but together with Shea, especially on tunes like "The Bull and The Beaver," they recreate the high-low magic of The Kendalls. 
Beyond a few covers, such as the trail-dusted "Summer Wine," the duo's own arrangements and songs form the album's impressive core. The spare "You Take Me for Granted" would break the heart of Merle Haggard's original protagonist, and Shea's "Just a Matter of Time" crackles with the magnetism of Johnny & June. Shea's production keeps the voices front-and-center without short-changing the fine instrumentalists who set up the album's mood. Special mention must be given to steel player Gary Brandin, whose haunting runs, bell-like peels and weeping bends are nearly a third voice within the duets. This is an exquisite album that impresses upon first play and reveals more charms with every spin. 

                                                                                    - Eli Messinger







november 2003
RICK SHEA & PATTY BOOKER
Our Shangri LA
(Tres Pescadores)

        Even in the traditionalist sector, country singers seem to think that singing the same song with somebody else is a duet, but it isn't. It's just two people singing at the same time. Up until Bill and Audrey I thought this bedrock staple of classic country music was pretty much a lost art, but its nice to know that Looking Back To See wasn't a fluke, and that Americans, or anyway Californians, can play this game as well as Australians. Shea, currently Dave Alvin's Guilty Men guitarist, and Booker, both alumni of the Town South of Bakesrsfield project, originally got together singing A House Divided on Shea's 1991 cassette debut, later reissued as On Shaky Ground, and now present a full album of 13 duets. Unlike Auld & Chambers who harked back to the two part harmonies of the Louvin Brothers or Carl & Pearl Butler (as did Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris), Shea and Booker, whose heroes are, respectively, Merle Haggard and Loretta Lynne, draw their inspiration from the intimate conversational question and answer, call and response style of the 70s and 80s mixed couples - among the few covers are Lee Hazlewoods & Nancy Sinatra'sSummer Wine and Leona Williams & Haggards You Take Me For Granted and The Bull And The Beaver. Proven singers and songwriters, Shea with three fine albums, Booker with I Don't Need All That (highlighted by her magnificently defiant hard country reading of Hell Yes I Cheated), they go together like, well like Leona & Merle, Rose Maddox & Buck Owens, Wynn Stewart & Jan Howard, alternating mutual heartache with sly humor.
John Conquest

 


 

 



Our Shangri LA Rick Shea and Patty Booker

   Heres some mighty fine west coast country from two solo artists teaming up for the first time on record.

   Each has a classic country voice. Shea sounds a bit like Lefty Frizzell, while Booker sounds like a less fragile Tammy Wynette.

   The material, much of it original, is top-notch. Theres a good choice of covers, too, including Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood's old hit "Summer Wine" and two songs by Haggard's ex-wife, Leona Williams, "The Bull and the Beaver" (co-written by Merle) and "You Take Me for Granted" which is my current favorite on the album,(www.trespescadores.com)

                                                                                      Steve Terrell

 


pasadenaweekly
    News and Entertainment           10/23/03 

 

Downhome Shangri-La 
Rick Shea & Patty Booker duet in the studio and on the stage 
By Bliss

      Best known in some quarters as the multi-instrumental anchor of Dave Alvin's Guilty Men band, Covina's Rick Shea has established a critically praised reputation on his own with three solo albums and last year's “Trouble and Me” collaboration with fiddler Brantley Kearns. After years of playing truck stops and honky-tonks around LA, Orange County and San Bernardino, he's earned sufficient chops and artistic creds to mentor up-and-coming artists like singer-songwriter Phil Tagliere. Now he's adding to his body of work with the realization of a longtime dream: an album of duets with pal Patty Booker, the newly released “Our Shangri-La” (Tres Pescadores).

It's a project the two have been talking about for years, and it's already fueling their careers with fresh momentum. As good as they are independently, the music they're making together is more emotionally dynamic, with an edge that's inspiring more excitement on the LA music scene than either has experienced in some time.

      Since last spring they've been working up a repertoire of songs (mostly original, plus a few heartfelt nods to Merle Haggard) at various clubs around LA, including Bean Town and an ongoing residency at Culver City's Cinema Bar. It's rock-hard, non-cheesy, unapologetic California country all the way: biting Telecaster twang, frank lyrics, and rhythms that alternately shuffle, waltz and rock. If Shea's expressive guitar work and brandy-smooth vocals give the music legs, then it's Booker's gutsy singing that forms its fierce heart. She couldn't not sound country even if she wanted to; her phrasing and tone alternately recall Loretta Lynn and rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson. She's a solid rhythm guitarist, but as Bob Gothar's assumed those duties over the past several months it's been a kick to watch her learn to play bass onstage like some can-do rockrgrl.

      Emblematic of their live sets are fun uptempo numbers like “Just a Matter of Time” and the saucy “Our Shangri-La” (co-written by Booker and Orange County country stalwart Jann Browne), with its celebration of mortgages, shabby-chic flea-market finds and home videos. But it's the ballads that best showcase their fire-and-smoke harmonies, like Booker's “You” and Shea's poignant “The House That We Once Lived In,” which he only recently started playing in public; employing a dusty, weed-ridden house as metaphor for a disintegrating marriage, it's fast become a highlight of their performances.

 

Booker and Kearns join Shea at the Fret House (309 N. Citrus Ave, Covina)

8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25; $15. Info: (626) 339-7020.


Posted on Sun, Dec. 28, 2003  
Best albums of the year 
By Mark Whittington 
Mercury News 

My year-end list includes my ``favorites,'' determined by the albums that stayed in play in my cluttered world. It does not pretend to be a list of the year's ``best.'' Warning: My tastes are all over the map.

My picks, in no particular order:

John Williams , ``El Diablo Suelto'' Sony Classical --

Ry Cooder and Manuel Galbán , ``Mambo Sinuendo'' Nonesuch/Perro Verde --

Mike Marshall and Chris Thile , ``Into the Cauldron'' Sugar Hill --

John Hammond , ``Ready for Love'' Back Porch --

Tab Benoit , ``Sea Saint Sessions'' Telarc --

Tom Russell , ``Modern Art'' Hightone Records --

Rick Shea and Patty Booker  "Our Shangri-LA'' (Tres Pescadores Records) Great weepers and honky-tonk duets in the California tradition of Merle Haggard and Bonnie Owens or Buck Owens and Rose Maddox. How good is this album? I lent it to a friend who won't give it back. Bonus: Shea's twangy guitar.

Gillian Welch , ``Soul Journey'' Acony --

Howard Tate , ``Rediscovered'' Private Music --

Mark O'Connor's Hot Swing Trio , ``In Full Swing'' Odyssey --








Hi, this is the best of 2003 as voted on by the 127 DJs who report to 
Freeform American Roots. 

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 
#1 Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez: The Trouble With Humans 
(Trainwreck/Lone Star) 

2 Rick Shea &  Patty Booker: Our Shangri-LA (Tres Pescadores) 
3 Ray Wylie Hubbard: Growl (Philo) 
4 Dwight Yoakam: Population Me (Audium) 
5 John Lilly: Last Chance To Dance ((self 
6 Calexico: Feast of Wire (Quarterstick) 
7 Rodney Crowell: Fate's Right Hand (DMZ) 
8 Wayne Hancock: Swing Time (Bloodshot) 
9 Paul Burch: Fool For Love (Bloodshot) 
10 Cornell Hurd Band: Live At Jovita's (Behemoth) 
11 Drive By Truckers: Decoration Day (New West) 
12 Marti Brom: Wise To You (Goofin') 
13 Bobby Flores: Just For The Record (Yellow Rose) 
14 Greg Trooper: Floating (Sugar Hill) 
15 Ronny Elliott: Hep (Blue Heart) 


                                      




Friday Jan 16th 2004

These 11 albums were the class of 2003

Paul Andersen   Music Notes

1. 50 Cent "Get Rich or Die" Interscope.

2. White Stripes  "Elephant" V2

3. Steely Dan "Everything Must Go" Reprise

4. Nicholas Payton  "Sonic Trance" Warner Bros.

5. Anthony Hamilton "Comin From Where I'm From" Arista

6. Airto Moreira  "Life After That"  Narada

7. Tie: Chrstian McBride "Vertical Vision" Warner Bros.

    and Dave Holland Quintet "Extended Play: Live at Birdland" ECM

8. Rick Shea and Patty Booker "Our Shangri LA" Tres Pescadores

    Country music has long been a haven for great male-female duos -Tammy and George, Dolly and Porter - and following in that lineage is the first great duo of the new millennium. Shea and Booker sound like they've been working together for decades, with and easy feel and a great set of tunes, the majority of which are originals. Organic and natural, this is a duo to watch.

9. The Yardbirds "Birdland" Favored Nation

10.Anny Celsi  "Little Black Dress and Other Stories" Ragazza Music
_______________________________________________________________________________-
            

March 2004

Noteable Reviews

by Don Thomason

Our Shangri-La - Rick Shea and Patty Booker 
(Tres Pescadores) 
Duet albums are a lost art, primarily because it's hard to pull off an album's worth and keep it interesting. Honky tonk singer extraordinaire Patty Booker and the man she describes as “the sexiest voice on the west coast” Rick Shea (of Dave Alvin's band Guilty Men) have collaborated to serve up a large slice of California hard-core country. Booker's fiery singing and Shea's softer resonance don't seem like they should work well together, yet they find the blend and divide the 13 songs pretty much evenly for a true duet effort. Although there are many nods to genre classics like Leona Williams' “You Take Me for Granted” and Merle & Leona's “The Bull and the Beaver,” Shea and Booker's own songs stand just as high, particularly Patty's “I Know What's Wrong (But I Just Can't Get It Right)” and Rick's “I'm No Good Without You.” The up-tempo title track, penned by Booker and Jann Browne, is unique in its description of second-hand and catalog-bought furnishings and the meaning each piece has after raising a family among them (“We didn't work to keep up with any of the Joneses/No, nothing here is worth much, but it's our Shangri-La, we own it”). Go to www.trespescadores.com and get yourself a ticket to some worthwhile no-airs honky-tonk music. 


River Post 
     
                                                               

 





Rick Shea & Patty Booker 
Our Shangri-LA 

(Tres Pescadores Records) 
     It is not often that you no ways can hear classical country music as a duet. Looking back and it makes us remembering Conway & Loretta and Dolly & Porter. But here has Rich Shea & Patty Booker got together and has recorded this album with a country music that has deep roots to the Bakersfield tradition. Rick Shea is a singer, guitarist as have worked the hard way for survive playing truck stops, roadhouse etc. Also Patty booker has lived a tough life playing lots of club in southern California. A few years ago Patty did release a wonderful CD album titled "I Don't Need All That". Also she did a smaller tour in Sweden by last year. 
     This new duet record includes both new written material and some covers. It starts up with the guitar a Bakersfield sound in a song called "When Will I Ever Learn" (G. Brandin) than it is very nice to hear the good ol "Summer Wine" (L. Hazelwood) in a great version. Even the song "Just Matter Of Time" (Rick Shea) has the little extra spice as make it easy to fall in love with 
this great song. All the other songs on this album give a good impression and the more you play them the more they grow.  It is exceptional to hear a duo that works so well together with their blended voice. And with a music that is legendary back when country used to be country.

                                                                                Christer Andersson, Sweden

 

 

          


 

Ctrl. Alt. Country 

"...an amazing modern West Coast honky tonk cd. One of the best traditional country records of the year for sure! Comparisons with the legendary duets of Wynn Stewart and Jan Howard, Buck Owens and Rose Maddox and Merle Haggard and Bonnie Owens are constantly suggesting themselves. And that says a hell of a lot of the exceptionally high level these two are constantly reaching. ... Highly recommended!"

(Benny Metten, Ctrl. Alt. Country e-zine, Belgium, October 2003) 

RICK SHEA & PATTY BOOKER 
“Our Shangri-La” 
(Tres Pescadores Records) 
Rick Shea geniet hier te lande vooral enige naambekendheid dankzij zijn werk aan de zijde van Dave Alvin in de Guilty Men. Patty Booker van haar kant werd door een select groepje van ingewijden liefdevol in de armen gesloten als zeer jonge oma, maar dankzij haar album “I Don't Need All That…” toch vooral ook als een devote hard country-artieste. “Our Shangri-La”, het eerste album van die twee samen, is dan ook niet geheel onverwacht een dot van een moderne West Coast honky-tonk-cd geworden. Zondermeer één van de beste traditionele countryplaten van het jaar zelfs. Vergelijkingen met de legendarische duetten van stellen als Wynn Stewart en Jan Howard, Buck Owens en Rose Maddox en Merle Haggard en Bonnie Owens dringen zich vrijwel voortdurend op. En dat zegt natuurlijk heel erg veel over het uitzonderlijk hoge niveau dat hier zowat continu gehaald wordt. Eigen songs worden daarbij afgewisseld met pittige covers van nummers als het van Lee Hazlewood en Nancy Sinatra bekende “Summer Wine”, het door Leona Williams gepende “You Take Me For Granted”, het door diezelfde Williams met Merle Haggard vereeuwigde “The Bull And The Beaver” en het van Pat McLaughlin geleende “Fewer Things All The Time”. Hoogtepunten hoorden wij in het licht cajuneske “Just A Matter Of Time”, het speelse titelnummer en de fraaie hier al eerder aangesproken sleper “Fewer Things All The Time”. 
Stevige aanrader! 
www.trespescadores.com

 



 

 

RICK SHEA & PATTY BOOKER
"Our Shangri-La"
(Tres Pescadores Records / Sonic Rendezvous)
(5) J

 
Rick Shea enjoys in this country especially some notoriety thanks to his work on the part of Dave Alvin in the Guilty Men. Patty Booker for its part, was lovingly embraced by a select group of insiders as very young grandmother, but thanks to her album "I Do not Need All That ..." yet also as a devout hard-country artist."Our Shangri-La", the first album of the two together, is not entirely unexpected one dot of a modern West Coast become honky-tonk CD. Without doubt one of the best traditional country records of the year even. Comparisons with the legendary duets by posing as Wynn Stewart and Jan Howard, Buck Owens and Rose Maddox and Merle Haggard and Bonnie Owens impose themselves almost constantly. And that, of course, says a lot about the exceptionally high level that almost continuously met here. Individual songs are alternated with spicy covers of songs like Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra famous "Summer Wine" by Leona Williams pinned the "You Take Me For Granted", immortalized by the same Williams with Merle Haggard "The Bull And The beaver "and Pat McLaughlin borrowed" Fewer Things All The Time ". Highlights we heard in the light cajun-like "Just A Matter Of Time", the playful title track and the beautiful here previously addressed tug "Fewer Things All The Time".
Solid recommended!
www.trespescadores.com

_________________________________________________________________________________________________-



   

 


Wednesday, 19 November 2003 ore 18:33
Rick Shea & Patty Booker 
Our Shangri-LA

(Tres Pescadores) 

Our Shangri -LA revives the magnificence of a scene like the one in Bakersfield Californian custodian of a honky - tonk sound sincere and hard core country . Rick Shea has for some years a member of the Guilty Men , backing band of multi-instrumentalist Dave Alvin and is a excellent technique while Patty Booker has for nearly two decades a fixture on the club in California with his veins influenced primarily by the figure of Loretta Lynn . The two proposed a partnership that blends very well leading figures in the classic country tradition that gave rise to duos such as those between Buck Owens and Rose Maddox ( two bishops of the Bakersfield sound) or Merle Haggard and Bonnie Owens. Our Shangri -LA is an enjoyable trip through the repechage and original compositions from the past, all united by a love of country music absolutely profound and genuine. The two voices are combined always in a natural way and arrangements (the producer is the same Rick Shea) are simple and hit the spot , with lots of steel guitar , excellent electric guitars ( even Rick ) , a dash of accordion ( as in Fewer All The Things Time of Pat McLaughlin) and a rhythm section and discreet . Starting from the ' old favorites ' we can cite Summer Wine Lee Hazlewwod , song from the charming melody , the beautiful The Bull And The Beaver (signed by the couple Merle Haggard / Leona Williams) , the slow ballad You Take Me For Granted and the brilliant opening of When Will I Ever Learn. The originals are no less impressive and show good compositional skills for both Rick Shea is for Patty Booker (four songs are Rick , three Patty , one is composed of both) which , however, remained faithful to their writing inspirational models . Baby That Is not True is full, perky ( not out of place in the repertoire of Dwight Yoakam ) , I'm Not Good Without You is country with influences of the Everly Brothers , Just A Matter Of Time has one of the finest tunes on the disc, the title track has a ' vintage sound ' of great charm and the House that We Once Lived In, which closes the album, is an acoustic ballad full of nostalgia with a steel guitar ( Gary Brandin ) that touches the innermost chords . Rick Shea and Patty Booker prove with this album that country music more ' classica'non is never out of fashion , and a proposal in this manner , it is always extremely enjoyable. Info / copies at the site of their label , www.trespescadores.com . Happy listening !

 


                                          

Rick Shea & Patty Booker 
Our Shangri-LA

(Tres Pescadores)

     A magnificent album from start to finish, and every cut is a gem. Patty Booker has an incredible voice and range from the depths of sorrow to sheer joy and the best of honky tonk.  Rick Shea is an outstanding musician, song writer and vocalist.  The pairing of their soulful and distinctive voices gives an added dimension to the songs that make them duets in the best sense of the word, as their voices wonderfully compliment each other. The material and performances are all first rate with outstanding original songs and terrific interpretations of classics.

                                                                     Bob Schwartz  Amazon.com

 






Rick Shea & Patty Booker

Our Shangri-La

por Raúl Tejeiro

Tres Pescadores Records

Veterans cd A Town South of Bakersfield Vol . Edited about 3 years ago and after create material separately , Rick Shea & Patty Booker get -imprescindible I Do not Need All That for Booker decided to join forces to give this tribute to Bakersfield sound created by legends like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. The result is a combination of first classics Leona Williams, Haggard , Lee Hazelwood- and own compositions but with an unmistakable vintage saborcito . Booker & Shea continue the Californian tradition of country duets to Owens / Rose Maddox or Wynn Stewart / Jan Howard style with one foot in the present and one in the past.
 www.trespescadores.com
por Raúl Tejeiro 


 

RICK SHEA & PATTY BOOKER

Our Shangri LA

Tres Pescadores Records

***1/2

" From the time of the duets between Buck Owens and Rose Maddox or Merle Haggard and Bonnie Owens, two items do not come together with such magnificence for a demonstration of California country" . That add to the words of Dave Alvin, to describe this second album as a duo of Rick Shea, this voltacon country singer Patty Booker, whose second solo album , I do not need all that , and recently released . Now arrived at Tres Pescadores , for which he also recorded the previous Trouble and Me by Brantley Kearns, Rick Shea abandons the size most eclectic of previous work , incredibly close to the atmosphere of his mentor Dave Alvin (of which , and for years the steel trust man) , and Tom Russell to venture into a country album in purity. Rick Shea, note the figure of the Bakersfield sound , a guitarist who has played with many interpreters of the contemporary scene , Peter Rowan Tim O'Brien, Katy Moffatt to Chris Gaffney , before landing in the band Dave Alvin, in parallel , recorded Outside of Nashville titled solo album ( " 89) , The Buffalo Show ( " 95) , Shaky Ground ( " 99), and Sawbones (2000) , works between rock , roots and songwriting ranging from bluegrass to folk, from blues to rock & roll , country & western sound .old time , in a homogeneous and credible . Our Shangri LA, on the contrary, and intermente dedicated to the art of country duets that , thanks to the feeling of this work, seem to return a new life , a sort of "resurrection" to the contemporary era . Rick Shea & Patty Booker atmospheres are far from pop, country or rock or country sounds saccharine productions that often traviamo country- oriented. Here you can breathe pure air , sounds true, as we would say " ours ." The term "pure " describes wing to perfection these duets, which suggest ancha George Jones and Tammy Wynette , for this gem of two veterans of the scene of Southern California. Album of Shea and Patty Booker, we are faced with a vibrant West -coast sound in the best tradition of honky tonk , and as if something had just saved from extinction by mixing in a uniform way , some original songs with immortal "old favorites " . As a feature of the country and in California , and should be a great credibility in every performance and emotions that are nostalgic , dramatic, sensual and evocative , that are more engaging.