MOE BANDY & THE MAVERICKS "The Crazy Cajun Recordings"

Edsel's Crazy Cajun Recordings contains recordings Moe Bandy cut early in his career for Huey P. Meaux's regional independent labels. In other words, this is music from before Bandy started having hits, and it's very much in the Texas hard country tradition, with strong honky tonk and Western swing influences, every once and while tempered by some R&B and rock & roll. If anything, it cuts a larger stylistic path than Bandy's breakthrough albums on GRC, which were deliberately purist in the their honky tonk ideals. Much of this is somewhat generic, but in a good sense; the songs conform to honky tonk tradition, the performances are good, and the records sound like they were coming from a jukebox in a beer joint with saw dust on the floor after all the George Jones sides had already been played to death. Some of the tracks don't cut much of an impression, but there's enough good stuff -- "As Long as There's a Chance," "Playboy," "You're Part of Me," and "Lonely Girl" among them -- that makes it worthwhile for Bandy fanatics, as well as fans of '60s straight-ahead country with a Texas tilt. In fact, since this recalls '60s country in general more than it does Bandy's best, it very well be of moreinterest to that latter group. by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic

trax:
01 As Long As There's A Chance 02 Playboy 03 My Heart Belongs To You 04 You're Part of Me 05 What Would You Do 06 Pleading 07 Too Many times Before 08 Anything For You 09 Lonely Girl 10 Still A Fool For You 11 Hey There My Friend
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