Billy Bacon and The Forbidden Pigs
Still Smokin’ After 20 Years
Triple X Records, Swine Song
How did I ever miss this guy? I’m no expert on Tex-Mex rockabilly, but this guy is GOOD and he’s been at it for 20 years. If I heard him on some specialty college radio show, I missed the back announcement. Billy Bacon is a vaguely cartoonish looking chubby guy with a guitar and a sound that smells of beer and cheap whiskey, two of the four corners of good rockabilly. (What are the others? Cheap women and bar fights, silly boy.) We blast out of the gate with “Una Mas Cervaza,” Billy’s story of using his guitar and extremely limited Spanish to win over a hostile barroom. Clean and elaborate production abounds, nota bene “Clown” – he wants to go back, but I don’t think she’s going to take him in. That’s rockabilly, all right.
Billy Bacon doesn’t just have a good back up band, but friends up and down the dial. They hang out and play with the likes of Joe Walsh, Mojo Nixon, Michael Doucette and a dozen other uber hipsters. Influences come from all over, but the summation is a mellow blend of upbeat blues and country, danceable and drinkable, and well worth tracking down.
Billy Bacon and The Forbidden Pigs: http://www.forbiddenpigs.com
