Gambit Weekly It only took 10 years for New Orleans' virtuoso guitar gang Twangorama to put out a full-length studio recording — and it may have been worth the wait. The five-piece band has been playing Uptown with its full-on string assault for a decade now, with members Phil deGruy, Jimmy Robinson and Cranston Clements — recognizable from guitar stints with Dr. John, George Porter Jr., Boz Scaggs and others — on guitar, as well as the able rhythm section of Paul Clement on bass and Mark Whitaker on drums providing the bedrock rhythms for the trio's flying fingers. The self-titled album is more studied and subdued than rocking live sets like the one they let loose with the second weekend of Jazz Fest on the Allison Miner Music Heritage stage. For the most part, it showcases the awesome assemblage of talent without getting too showy or studious as it runs through a dozen diverse tracks. "Mode Rage" is a moody creeper with a foreboding twang, while Clements' "Beck and Call" is a beautifully plain, almost classical-sounding exercise. — Alison Fensterstock |
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