The cover of this album shows Robert Bobby seated between two empty stools. This may be some kind of in-joke but it also seems quite dismissive of the contribution of the other members of the trio : Mrs Bobby on bass and Bill Dork on dobro and mandolin. Maybe it is meant to assert that RB is the driving force of the threesome.
Bobby, from central Pennsylvania, was originally in a R'n'B band called The Speedboys which formed in 1978. A nod to that era comes with Hearts Like Atoms Split, an acoustic version of a Speedboys song.
The thirty minute album was recorded live in the studio and features six originals and five covers. The latter include Money's Getting Cheaper a song about trying and failing to make ends meet by bluesman Jimmy Witherspoon that is never likely to go out of date and Meatball, a depression era standard on a similar theme.
When it comes to tackling weighty topics like ageing, poverty, war and death he clearly figures that toe-tapping tunes are preferable to breast beating ballads. He can even see the light side of an inmate ordering his last meal on death row.
|
Equally, on the title track, he doesn't moan about what a drag it is to get old but reflects philosophically that "if you look forward fast enough, you'll be staring at your ass". This song manages the notable feat of name checking Hugh Hefner and Playboy, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and Stephen Hawking.
Other tracks include a rocking blues number (Rocking My Baby Back Home),
"a cry in the beer country song" (When Strangers Start To Cry) and the Dylanesque Peace Song ("How hard does peace have to be").
A light-hearted good time record with no pretensions other than to provide a fun way to pass half an hour.
The Robert Bobby's Website
|
