Frank Gutch Jr. continues to entertain and educate, in a way that only he can. This time he writes about Petunia & The Vipers. Don’t ask. Read the review.
Well, he evidently is, he being a guy named Petunia (a name, I believe, last attributed to a pig) and whose band, Petunia & The Vipers, are ready for the onslaught. That onslaught, gathering steam for the past few years, is going to vault the band not only onto many stages but into many music fans’ consciousness not only because they can play but because of what they play. And what is that? I’ve been trying to figure that out.
It is country. Some of it. It is jazz. Some of it. It is gypsy. Kind of. It is twenties, thirties, and forties. Here and there. It is even rock, as if the majority of rock bands can be as creative. In the end, it is entertaining as hell and music seemingly made for video.
What say you to that, music fans? Most of you are too young to have caught the boogie woogie and rag days of bands like Pee Wee King and Jimmy Bryant & Speedy West and a plethora of others. Hear that beat reminiscent of Bill Haley & The Comets? Would it surprise you to find that Haley was, before that, Country & Western? He had a couple of bands, fronting both The Four Aces of Western Swing and Bill Haley & The Drifters (under which name he recorded two 45s), and even gained a reputation as a yodeler, wearing the soubriquet “Silver Yodeling Bill Haley” for a time. Ol’ Petunia has more Haley in him than most folks realize. See, before they rocked, they boogied.
Petunia, it seems, is following old paths taken by such Canadian greats as Hank Snow and Montana Slim, spreading the joy through the music. While radio 
does not have the power it once had nor Nashville the mystique, the live shows could well put him/them over the top. The tracks on the latest album, Inside of You, grabs the music and runs with it, certain tracks such as They Almost Had Me Believing and Runaway Freight Train Heart making it hard to believe that they have not been buried in the archives some 60 or 70 years before miraculously reappearing. This is roots music, sports fans, done better than you have heard it done before.
If you get a chance, catch these guys live. People tell me they blow the roofs off on an off-night (though the jury is still out regarding whether they ever have off-nights). Imagine what they could do when the cylinders are clicking.
Frank Gutch, Jr. is an international man of mystery, searching high and low for Indie music most of us would otherwise never hear. Check out more of Frank’s writing at rockandreprise
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