Rockabilly great Robert Gordon will be right at home with record release party August 15 at Bowery Electric
The Bowery Electric
327 Bowery at Second St.
Friday, August 15, $20, 7:30
www.theboweryelectric.com
Back in 1991, rockabilly legend Robert Gordon released the live album Greetings from New York City. On August 15, the former Tuff Darts lead vocalist, best known for his versions of Marshall Crenshaw’s “Someday Someway,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Fire,” Johnny Burnette’s “Rockabilly Boogie,” and Billy Lee Riley’s “Red Hot” (“My gal is red hot / Your gal ain’t doodley squat!”), will be celebrating the release of his latest album, the aptly titled I’m Coming Home (Lanark, June 2014), with a show at the Bowery Electric right here in his hometown. The record, his first in seven years, is pure Gordon, a dozen covers and originals, flying by in less than a half hour, that meld punk, blues, country, R&B, and rock ‘n’ roll in his unique style, anchored by his deep-throated baritone. The album opens with a trio of defiant tunes, Johnny Horton’s title track (one of several songs on which Gordon’s vocals evoke Johnny Cash), Crenshaw’s “Walk Hard” (with longtime friend Crenshaw on six-string), and Horton’s “Honky Tonk Man,” quickly establishing that Gordon is back indeed. He and his band — coproducer Quentin Jones on guitar, Rob Stoner on bass, and Dave Ferrara on drums — also take on Dorsey Burnette’s “It’s Late,” Harold Dorman’s “Mountain of Love,” Buck Owens’s “Under Your Spell Again,” and Little Richard’s “Lucille,” offering fun twists and turns along the way. The original, rollicking “It’s Only Love” (written by labelmate Barry Ryan of the Rockats and also featuring Crenshaw) sounds like a lost Buddy Holly gem, while Gordon proclaims in “Quit This Big Ole Town” (written by the Rockats’ Dibbs Preston), “You know I’m coming on back / Yeah, I’m coming on back / Well, I got my boots on my feet / shirt on my back / I’m a long tall daddy walking down the track.” For the Bowery Electric show, this long tall daddy will be joined by guitarist Jones, bassist Stoner, and drummer David Uosikkinen, with no intention of quitting this big ole town quite yet; Jeremy & the Harlequins open.