The Reno Brothers - 90 Miles To Reno

The Reno Brothers - 90 Miles To Reno
Tombstone Records, TOMBCD 2086

Tracklisting: Let The Devil Come Out / Rollin' Roadhouse / Johnny Law / 90 Miles / Travellin' On / Still In Love With You / Make It All Right / Rolling Ramblin' Man / I Don't Know / Hotrod Saturday Night / Don't Even Know Your Name / Truckin' Man / You Gave Me A Mountain / White Corn / East Bound & Down

Dutch quartet the Reno Brothers come from Holland and are Rogier Hermans (Lead Vocals, Lead Guitar), Rolf Hartogs (Backing Vocals, Acoustic & Lead Guitar), Eddy Poppes (Double Bass) and Aeilko Van Der Wagen (Drums). I wonder if they were going to call themselves Love Me Tender but changed their mind at the last minute (Elvis joke there!). They formed in 1998 after Hermans and Poppes had served their apprenticeships in rockabilly bands the Red Shots, Get Rhythm and Jimmy and the Bamboozies. Following the release of their debut album, Born To Party, they have undertaken shows across Europe and in the process have gained a reputation as one of the top exponents of country based rockabilly. There seems to be an increase in the number of bands who are going for that rockin'-truckin'-hillbilly sound at the moment, with the Reno Brothers being up there with BossHoss and Smokestack Lightning.

Hermans who wrote half the songs here is a talented guy with a voice that is a dead ringer for Dale Watson - and that's no bad thing. After the two excellent openers, Let The Devil Come Out and Rollin' Roadhouse I actually thought I'd put the wrong CD on, it was so much like DW. Ironically, he sounds less like him on the Watson song Truckin' Man. Jerry Reed's East Bound And Down rocks like the clappers as do their covers of Wayne Hancock's Johnny Law and Alan Jackson's Don't Even Know Your Name. Rolling Ramblin' Man again from the pen of Hermans is given some nice blues harmonica from Andres "Zwiebel" Swiatlowsaki. It's a cracking album full of driving rhythms and enough variety to keep it interesting. Great stuff.
Shaun