There’s definitely a generational thing that happens with music. You grow up listening to what your parents like until you’re old enough to develop your own style. Frequently that’s the opposite of what you heard through childhood. By early adulthood you start to appreciate the older music, and by midlife it’s part of your playlist again. You can see some of those elements in the arc of Austinite Monte Warden, starting with his hanging around Rank & File rehearsals, forming the iconic Whoa Trigger!, then the Wagoneers, and now the release of his second record with the Dangerous Few, Jackpot!. Warden and his wife, Brandi, describe it as the sound if Dean Martin had been from Lubbock.
The album starts with Silhouette, a tango written about an experience early in the Warden’s relationship. That experience also instills a little relevance in the ballroom jazz number, It Was But A Small Affair. Outside Looking In has a Charlie Rich smoothness to it, in a tale of woe about being in love with someone who hasn’t noticed. Extra Oodle is an unexpected polka tune, with a chorus of “I love you extra oodle, chicken noodle, souper doodle most”. How can this not be a sing-along when they do it live? The title track has a samba beat where, “Vegas, Monaco, or Reno, we put it all on love”.
I started gravitating to some of the more uptempo songs, like I Declare. While still jazzy in style, you can hear an Elvis sneer in the vocals. That fits perfectly with a Jerry Lee Lewis keyboard part emphasizing the lustiness of a woman that no man stands a chance against. That same quality of woman is featured in Waxahachie Hoochie Coo, with a New Orleans groove that commands you to dance. Waxahachie Alice is so hot she can “make a dead man dream”. Desperately is the first time he’s recorded his own version of the monster hit he and Bruce Robison penned for George Strait. Horn player Erik Telford, who adds a vital layer throughout the entire project, rearranged it to something Aretha or Carole would have recorded in Muscle Shoals. The CD finishes with Steadfast Love, a gospel rockabilly number that’s somehow the perfect closer.
Throughout an illustrious career Monte Warden has been on the leading edge of several musical trends, at least as far as their popularity is concerned. Perhaps that will be true with his current mashup of jazz and Americana. Whether that happens or not, Monte Warden and the Dangerous Few are already masters of the genre. You owe it to yourself to give that style a listen, if you haven’t already, and there’s no better place to start than Jackpot!.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.