Ben Vaughn - Texas Road Trip (2014)

"Texas music has always been a big mess, and that is probably the biggest single thing that has made it stand tall. There are so many wild strains running through it -- from blues to country to jazz to soul to rock to, yes, even hip-hop -- that it's impossible to keep track of what's what. But confusion is good, because as long as a listener can't quite pin down what makes their monkey nerve twitch they'll keep coming back for more. Ben Vaughn got bit early by the heat in the Texas beat. More specifically, as a young kid in New Jersey, Vaughn tuned into San Antonio's Sir Douglas Quintet. There was a wildness in the Quintet's hit "She's About a Mover," some wiggliness that just would not stop. Sir Douglas Sahm and his cohorts had the magic in them. There was no other way to put it. It was like there was a fire burning in the Quintet's collective soul that could not be put out.

Vaughn also has that fire, and in a dream-come-true, he's gone to the source in Texas to record an album with several Sir Douglas veterans, including main keyboard man Augie Meyers. That alone is like having the Crown Prince on hand. Then there's Alvin Crow, Speedy Sparks, John X Reed and Mike Buck. With a musical bunch like that, there is no way to miss the bull's eye. Ben Vaughn has delivered an album full of original songs, ones that capture the wild wind of the Sir Douglas Quintet while adding some modern velocity to the sonics, that will light up the skies and surely make even Sir Doug himself smile as he floats through the cosmos making sure the groove never stops. Far-out, for sure."