Retro-rocker Ben Vaughn attracted attention for his faithful re-creations of pre-Beatles rock & roll, pop, and roots music, all of which were filtered through his quirky sense of humor. Vaughn grew up in Philadelphia and played drums in the local punk band the Sickidz in 1980. Two years later, roots rockers the Morells recorded his composition... [+] Read More

Retro-rocker Ben Vaughn attracted attention for his faithful re-creations of pre-Beatles rock & roll, pop, and roots music, all of which were filtered through his quirky sense of humor. Vaughn grew up in Philadelphia and played drums in the local punk band the Sickidz in 1980. Two years later, roots rockers the Morells recorded his composition "The Man Who Has Everything" on their acclaimed Shake and Push album. Vaughn began playing around Philadelphia with a band dubbed the Ben Vaughn Combo, gradually branching out into other parts of the Northeast. His first album, The Many Moods of Ben Vaughn, was released in 1986 on the U.K. imprint Making Waves and shortly thereafter was licensed for American release by Restless. It received enthusiastic reviews, and Marshall Crenshaw covered its "I'm Sorry (But So Is Brenda Lee)" on his Downtown album. The follow-up, Beautiful Thing, appeared in 1987, again to positive response, and Vaughn signed a permanent deal with Restless; after its release, the Combo elected to disband, and Vaughn became a true solo artist. Blows Your Mind was released in 1988, and its 1990 follow-up, Dressed in Black, featured guest appearances by Crenshaw, John Hiatt, the Violent Femmes' Gordon Gano, Alex Chilton, and country duo Foster & Lloyd.

In the meantime, Vaughn's interest in musical history led to some side gigs as a compiler and producer. He contributed to retrospective releases on Johnny Otis and Joe South and produced albums by cult legends Charlie Feathers and Arthur Alexander, among others. He also scored two documentary films, Favorite Mopar (about muscle cars) and Wild Girls Go Go Rama, and spent some time in Nashville writing songs with Rodney Crowell and Bill Lloyd. In the meantime, Restless issued the compilation Mood Swings in 1992. Vaughn's next recording was a covers album, Mono USA, which appeared on Bar/None in 1994. He followed it in 1995 with Instrumental Stylings, an eclectic album that incorporated bits of his film scores, and a collaborative effort with Kim Fowley dubbed Kings of Saturday Night. Thanks in part to Instrumental Stylings, he was tapped to compose the surf-style theme song for the TV sitcom Third Rock From the Sun and wound up winning a composer's award from BMI for it. Most of the music from Instrumental Stylings was ultimately featured on the show at one time or another. Vaughn went on to serve as music director for That '70s Show as well and returned with a new album in 1997; Rambler 65 was recorded on an eight-track studio set up in Vaughn's vintage car of the same name. He returned in 2006 with Designs in Music. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide [-] Hide

A surf quartet hailing from Memphis, TN, Impala has issued four full-length albums (El Rancho Reverbo, Square Jungle, Play R&B Favorites, and Teenage Tupelo Movie Soundtrack), as well as an EP (Kings of the Strip). ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide

A surf quartet hailing from Memphis, TN, Impala has issued four full-length albums (El Rancho Reverbo, Square Jungle, Play R&B Favorites, and Teenage Tupelo Movie Soundtrack), as well as an EP (Kings of the Strip). ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Former Stray Cat Brian Setzer was born in New York City and raised in Long Island. His first instrument, at age eight, was the euphonium, and he played the tuba-like instrument for ten years. He began having dreams of leading a big band with horns as a teen, but got sidetracked by punk. Initially, as a guitarist and songwriter, he took his... [+] Read More

Former Stray Cat Brian Setzer was born in New York City and raised in Long Island. His first instrument, at age eight, was the euphonium, and he played the tuba-like instrument for ten years. He began having dreams of leading a big band with horns as a teen, but got sidetracked by punk. Initially, as a guitarist and songwriter, he took his inspiration from blues-rock bands like Led Zeppelin, although as a teen he'd take the train into New York to hang around the jazz clubs, sneaking into places like the Village Vanguard and the Village Gate. After seeing the Mel Lewis Orchestra, he had the idea of leading his own big band, but playing guitar, not clarinet or saxophone.


In the early '80s, Setzer formed the Stray Cats, a rockabilly band that took England by storm and then came back home to convert audiences in the U.S. The Stray Cats' U.S. breakthrough album was Built for Speed, which spurred three separate Top Ten hits, including "Stray Cat Strut," "Rumble in Brighton," and "Rock This Town." On tour with the Stray Cats, Setzer practiced jazz chords and listened to the recordings of Gene Krupa, Benny Goodman and other big-band leaders; finally, after the group's demise and a largely unsuccessful turn as a solo roots-rocker, Setzer formed a 17-piece big band in Los Angeles for a series of club dates. After cutting an album of cover material with the big band for a smaller label, Setzer jumped to Interscope Records, where he worked with legendary producer Phil Ramone as well as Clash co-founder Joe Strummer, with whom he collaborated on 1996's Guitar Slinger, an album blending jump blues and swing Texas blues. Dirty Boogie followed in 1998 and Vavoom! was released in 2000 and Ignition appeared the next spring. In 2002, Setzer added a Christmas album (Boogie Woogie Christmas) to his resume, followed by the greatest hits anthology Jump, Jive an' Wail: The Best of the Brian Setzer Orchestra 1994-2000. He released a Japanese EP in 2003, the Sinatra-inspired Luck Be a Lady as a prelude to the rocking and decidedly horn-deficiant full-length Nitro Burnin' Funny Daddy. Rockabilly Riot, Vol. 1: A Tribute to Sun Records followed in 2005, and Setzer closed out the year with the seasonal effort Dig That Crazy Christmas. ~ Richard Skelly, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Born in Woodstock, NY, infamous sideman Jim Weider jumped into the music industry as soon as he could. The area was a hotbed for national talent, with acts like Bob Dylan and the Band recording there. He began recording and hiring himself out to songwriters for backup, eventually gathering up enough money to move to Nashville. He joined Johnny... [+] Read More

Born in Woodstock, NY, infamous sideman Jim Weider jumped into the music industry as soon as he could. The area was a hotbed for national talent, with acts like Bob Dylan and the Band recording there. He began recording and hiring himself out to songwriters for backup, eventually gathering up enough money to move to Nashville. He joined Johnny Paycheck's touring band, and supported himself through session work and playing local concerts. By the early '80s, Weider moved back to his hometown and began a tour with Robbie Dupress. When 1983 rolled around, he met former Band drummer Levon Helm, who invited him to join his touring band. Helm was very impressed by Weider, so when the Band was ready to reunite in 1985, Weider took Robbie Robertson's spot when Robertson declined the reunion. He continued to perform with the Band as the decade went on, eventually playing with the group at Roger Waters' recreation of The Wall at the Berlin Wall. In 1993, he also played with the group at Bob Dylan's tribute concert in Madison Square Garden and at Bill Clinton's Inaugural Ball. On top of these performances, he also kept himself busy playing on albums by Robbie Dupree, Artie Traum, Paul Burlison, Rick Danko, and many others. His membership in the Band actually lasted longer than Robbie Robertson's original tenure, as he stayed with the band throughout the '90s, even performing with them at Woodstock '94. When he had time off from the group, he released several best-selling instructional videos for guitar, and finally released his own solo album with the Honky Tonk Gurus entitled Big Foot in 1999. ~ Bradley Torreano, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Best known as the leader of Brownsville Station and composer of their hit, "Smokin' in the Boys Room," Cub Koda proved that his roots went far deeper, both before the band's formation, during its days in the sun, and long after its demise. His high-school band, the Del-Tinos, was dipping into blues and rockabilly as far back as 1963 -- not only... [+] Read More

Best known as the leader of Brownsville Station and composer of their hit, "Smokin' in the Boys Room," Cub Koda proved that his roots went far deeper, both before the band's formation, during its days in the sun, and long after its demise. His high-school band, the Del-Tinos, was dipping into blues and rockabilly as far back as 1963 -- not only pre-Butterfield, but pre-Beatles. Similarly, he recorded legendary home tapes during his off-hours from Brownsville, before the rockabilly revival had uttered its first hiccup, and later teamed with Hound Dog Taylor's former rhythm section, the Houserockers, to play the blues in the '80s. Along the way he cranked out a monthly column ("The Vinyl Junkie") and recorded a series of albums that kept roots music of all kinds alive without ever treating it like a museum piece.

Originally a drummer at age five, Koda switched over to guitar when he formed his first band, the Del-Tinos, a teenage garage combo equally influenced by rock & roll, blues, and rockabilly. The group cut its first single -- Roy Orbison's "Go Go Go" -- in the fall of 1963, and released two more 45s independently before it disbanded in 1966. By this time, Koda had become so immersed in the blues that the last Del-Tinos single had the trio doing Muddy Waters' "I Got My Mojo Workin'" on one side and Robert Johnson's "Ramblin' on My Mind" on the other.

After a couple of bands in the late '60s that largely went unrecorded, Koda formed Brownsville Station in early 1969. After playing local Midwest gigs and releasing a handful of singles, the band released its first album in 1970. But it wasn't until "Smokin' in the Boys Room" that Brownsville had a genuine hit. Released as a single in the fall of 1973, "Smokin'" climbed all the way to number three, eventually selling over two million copies.

But Koda began to back away from the group's loud, overdriven rock sound -- at least in private. He purchased a multi-track tape recorder and started producing one-man-band tapes, where he overdubbed all the instruments and vocals. For the next several years, Koda made home recordings of rockabilly, blues, R&B, country, jazz, and early rock & roll -- the exact opposite of Brownsville's heavy rock stance; the rockabilly tapes were eventually released as That's What I Like About the South in the early '80s, with other tracks showing up on compilations as late as 1993.

When Brownsville disbanded in 1979, Cub began writing a column called "The Vinyl Junkie" for Goldmine magazine, later published in DISCoveries. Through the column's success, Koda established himself as an expert record collector and critic -- eventually, Cub would compile and write liner notes for a number of projects, including three volumes in Rhino's acclaimed Blues Masters series.

In 1980, Koda worked with Hound Dog Taylor's backing band, the Houserockers. Over the next 15 years, Koda, guitarist Brewer Phillips, and drummer Ted Harvey performed and recorded together, with their first album, It's the Blues, appearing in 1981 and the latest, The Joint Was Rockin', being released in 1996.

Throughout the '80s and '90s, Koda has continued to divide his time equally between touring, recording, and writing. 1993 saw the twin release of Smokin' in the Boy's Room: The Best of Brownsville Station on Rhino and Welcome to My Job, a retrospective of his non-Brownsville material on Blue Wave, followed a year later by Abba Dabba Dabba: A Bananza of Hits on Schoolkids Records.

During the second half of the '90s, Koda increased his presence as a writer, in addition to staying musically active. In addition to editing The All Music Guide to Blues, he wrote and edited Blues for Dummies. He also continued writing liner notes, contributing work to retrospectives of the Trashmen, Jimmy Reed, JB Hutto, the Kingsmen, and the Miller Sisters, among others. He also supervised the 1996 release of The Joint Was Rockin', a live album of Cub with the Houserockers in the early '80s, plus a 1998 Norton reissue of recordings he made with the Del-Tinos.

Cub wasn't just an archivist during this time. In 1997, he released Box Lunch on J-Bird Records, his first collection of new material since Abba Dabba Dabba. Box Lunch was a solo, all-acoustic album unlike anything he had recorded in the past. Koda returned to hard-driving, loud rock & roll with 2000's Noise Monkeys, an album he recorded live with a reunited Points in 1999. Released in the spring, Noise Monkeys was receiving strong reviews, including a positive notice by Robert Christgau in The Village Voice, when tragedy struck. Koda had been sick for a while, but he was slowly recovering. In the spring, he was put on kidney dialysis, and he was recovering, but then he suddenly took sick during the evening of June 30, 2000. He died early in the morning on July 1, 2000 at the age of 51. Considering that he was sick, perhaps it shouldn't have been a surprise that he succumbed to his illness, but Cub kept working and rocking until the end -- he was writing and recording music in the last week of his life. He never lost his love for music and he always shared that love anyway he could, whether it was as a musician, journalist, DJ, or friend. As he said, he was "somewhere between a cult figure and rock & roll legend," and to anyone that knew him, that was the gospel truth. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Upon disbanding the Stray Cats, Brian Setzer reinvented himself as a heartland rocker much in the vein of John Mellencamp or Bruce Springsteen; his solo debut, The Knife Feels Like Justice, possessed a maturity and depth largely lacking from his previous retro-rockabilly efforts, and although he was still too quick to succumb to rock clichés --... [+] Read More

Upon disbanding the Stray Cats, Brian Setzer reinvented himself as a heartland rocker much in the vein of John Mellencamp or Bruce Springsteen; his solo debut, The Knife Feels Like Justice, possessed a maturity and depth largely lacking from his previous retro-rockabilly efforts, and although he was still too quick to succumb to rock clichés -- there's actually a song here called "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" -- moments like the hit title track and "Barbwire Fence" offered solid proof that behind all of his wildman posturing, there existed genuine talent as well. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Evidently, Brian Setzer doesn't take the jump blues and swing of the Brian Setzer Orchestra as a joke. Dirty Boogie is his third album with his large band, and instead of sounding tired, the record is the group's best effort yet. Setzer rocks the band hard, tearing through blues and rock & roll covers with vigor, and delivering made-to-order... [+] Read More

Evidently, Brian Setzer doesn't take the jump blues and swing of the Brian Setzer Orchestra as a joke. Dirty Boogie is his third album with his large band, and instead of sounding tired, the record is the group's best effort yet. Setzer rocks the band hard, tearing through blues and rock & roll covers with vigor, and delivering made-to-order originals that are surprisingly well crafted and memorable. Much attention will be paid to "You're the Boss," a cover of the Elvis Presley/Ann Margaret staple from Viva Las Vegas, performed as a duet with No Doubt's Gwen Stefani, but that's hardly the only highlight here -- it's a swinging, rocking record that suggests Setzer's skills are only improving with time. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide [-] Hide

[-] Hide

Covering everything from his pre-Brownsville Station days to two brand-new songs, Welcome to My Job is the definitive collection of Cub Koda's versatile solo career. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Covering everything from his pre-Brownsville Station days to two brand-new songs, Welcome to My Job is the definitive collection of Cub Koda's versatile solo career. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Cub Koda has tried a lot of different things in his long career, but he has never made anything close to Box Lunch. It's not just that the album consists of nothing but acoustic material; he has never been this open with his emotions. There are a few rockers -- "Double Barrel Hell" is menacing and "Gimme Trash" is a tongue-in-cheek kitsch... [+] Read More

Cub Koda has tried a lot of different things in his long career, but he has never made anything close to Box Lunch. It's not just that the album consists of nothing but acoustic material; he has never been this open with his emotions. There are a few rockers -- "Double Barrel Hell" is menacing and "Gimme Trash" is a tongue-in-cheek kitsch celebration -- but the heart of the record is in the ballads, whether it's the nostalgic "We Were Crazy Back Then," the yearning "Runaway Heart," or the lovely "How Could Life Turn Out This Way," which evokes the spirit of Hank Williams. Cub has rarely been this naked with his feelings and the results are frequently moving. And, to cap it all off, he throws out "Susan Hayward's Diary," a charming finger-picked instrumental. Moments like this make you hope that it's not the last acoustic album Cub will make -- Box Lunch is so good, you wish there were seconds. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide [-] Hide