Album Review: Lil’ Band O’ Gold Plays Fats

Lil' Band O' Gold don't really have any excuse to put out a bad record; they're made up of some of the finest musicians Louisiana has ever produced, they're not a particularly serious ongoing concern (eliminating pressure) and, on a record like …Play Fats, they have amazing material to work with. That doesn't make it any less thrilling to hear just how goddamn good this is. The songs are what they are – 13 Fats Domino classics that'd sound good as duets by Kim Beazley and Gary from Masterchef – but the spirit in the recordings is what's truly special.

Warren Storm lays waste with opener, Blue Monday, before Steve Riley's accordion gets centre stage with It Keeps Raining. CC Adcock's long, drawling Lie To Me hurts when you listen to it, he's put so much into the performance. I'm In Love Again and 4 Winds Blow are the kinds of songs that, if you're not smiling five seconds in, there's a chance you need psychological evaluation and here the band nail them to the ground. Aussies Jimmy Barnes and Tim Rogers put in decent performances too, but their inclusion, along with stars like Ani DiFranco, Robert Plant and Lucinda Williams, just add to the sense of fun that pumps through these songs. It's just a bunch of musos getting together and smashing through some songs that mean something to them.

There aren't many musicians playing Louisianan swamp pop these days and, while some of the members of this band might not be able to continue for all that many more years, one would hope they're turning some younger cats onto the style so the genre can live on.