While Tex’s infatuation with country music has never been hard miss – the early (and best) Beasts material is genuine outlaw country, while the best of Perkins’ solo material remains anything with a country bent – it’s taken 30 years for Perkins to release an album that pays tribute to the country artists so critical to his evolution as a performer.
Tex Perkins and the Band of Gold was conceived in the downtimes while Perkins was on the road with the Man In Black stage show. Aided and abetted by Rachel Tidd (who plays June Cash in the show), the album features compositions from Townes Van Zandt (Kathleen, If I Needed You), Porter Wagoner ( Lonely Coming Down), Merle Haggard (Silver Wings, It’s Not Love) and country music’s only known Rhodes Scholar, Kris Kristofferson (I’d Rather Be Sorry).
Perkins’ voice has aged gracefully, and rests perfectly with the emotional darkness and tragedy of tracks such as Gene Clark’s Gypsy Rider. The same psychotic balladry that Perkins once brought to Psycho is there in spades on Johnny Paycheck’s murderous narrative Pardon Me I’ve Got Someone to Kill. Perkins is at his best when he’s in character, and there’s more genuine character in country music than any other genre.
BY BOB COWPER
Best Track: Silver Wings
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: PORTENER WAGONER, TOWNES VAN ZANDT
In A Word: Country
