Gambit Weekly
April 2007
New Orleans

Phil DeGruy, Cranston Clements and Jimmy Robinson would make their guitar teachers proud. They stand up straight with good posture, and their wrists and their left hands are in correct position, not slackly hanging under the neck. Their guitar necks point roughly east-northeast, and as Twangorama all this technique and positioning allows them to play what they call "Seriously Twisted Guitar."
What is "Seriously Twisted Guitar"? Consider their instrumental version of the Easybeats' pop song "Friday on My Mind." "We spent six months on that arrangement, arguing about it," Robinson says. The result is a verse that is all crisscrossing guitar texture. In the melodic chorus, a descending guitar fill that ends each line in the original becomes a precise cascade of notes. If that sounds like art rock, that's fair enough considering Robinson's from New Orleans' art-rock band Woodenhead, as are drummer Mark Whitaker and bassist Paul Clement. Still, there's also a lot of attention to melody in Twangorama arrangements, and there's a greater sense of play than is associated with art-rock.
Having guests join the band each Thursday night at Carrollton Station adds to the fun. "People bring in different stuff each week," Robinson says. "Dave Malone wanted to do ŒIn-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.' That was the most ridiculous thing we've done." Guitarist June Yamagishi is guesting this week, Astral Project's Tony Dagradi next week, then future guests include bouzouki player Beth Patterson (July 8), the Radiators' Camille Badouin (July 15), David Torkanowsky (Aug. 5), and Bill Solley and Kim Prevost (Aug. 12). Initially, preparing for the guests required a lot of work, but Robinson says the band has it down to a science now. "I try to do road maps or charts for each song," he says, but the preparation doesn't diminish the spontaneity of the shows. Previous evenings with Brian Stoltz and Yamagishi featured the funky guitar pyrotechnic displays you'd expect.
For all of Robinson's technical proficiency, he almost lost the ability to play guitar at all. While studying classical guitar at Loyola, he developed a hand condition that caused the muscles in one of his fingers to contract back toward his palm. "Eventually, I couldn't hold a pick normally," he says. "In college it drove me crazy." He wondered if it was due to practicing too much or practicing too little, then after seeing doctors and going through a number of misdiagnoses, he found he had a condition called focal dystonia. To deal with the condition, Robinson developed a new method of picking, putting a thumb pick on his index finger.
"It took some getting used to, but it leaves all my fingertips free," he explains. "Cranston liked it so much he started using it."