CD Review: Too Slim and the Taildraggers – Anthology

There comes a time in every artist’s life when it is time to take stock on all you have done. After three decades of working the highways and byways of the northwest ,recording eighteen albums, garnering a legion of fans and winning a place in Hall Of Fame of three regional blues societies, Tim ”Too Slim,” Langford made his way to Nashville, Tennessee. In music city Langford forged a partnership with Grammy winner Tom Hambridge who produced his last studio album Blue Heart in 2013. The pair has joined forces to assemble a two disc album Anthology; released June 2014 as a collection of thirty one select songs from Too Slim’s storied career and three new songs.

The swamp rock tune ‘Wishing Well,’ boldly kicks off what can’t really be called a “Greatest Hits,” album but rather a set of favorites, milestones and magic moments. The two other new tunes, a four on the floor rocker ‘Little Gun Motel,’ and the piano ballad ‘Big Ole House,’ are woven seamlessly into the fabric of Too Slim’s  discography. Langford’s signature take no prisoners slide playing, genre fusing songwriting and the many incarnations of his power trio The Taildraggers are well represented in the song selection. These tales of blues, hard times and heartache range from full tilt rockers like ‘Wash My Hands,’ a light hearted cantina song ‘Mexico,’ to R&B groover with horns ‘She Sees Ghosts.’ Disc two gives us a bit more depth as Langford chose to includes several songs from his solo album Broken Halo, on which he played all the instruments and showcased his acoustic guitar, mandolin and dobro skills. Two guest vocalists are also featured with the iconic Curtis Salgado leading the congregation on ‘Everybody’s Got Something,” and Jimmy Hall confessing the blues while Too Slim rips during ‘Good To See You Smile Again.”

Check out Too Slim’s website: HERE