The Texas Gentlemen—not to be confused with the Tennessee Dirtbags—have premiered the music video for “Pain,” a track from their upcoming debut album, TX Jelly (not to be confused with Texas tea). You can check it out below.
Because people love comparing new things to old things, let’s just say the Gentlemen sound a bit like the Allman Brothers Band with a sense of humor.
Their greasy sound contains elements of The Band, Little Feat, the Muscle Shoals Swampers, Bobby Whitlock and—at least during the catchy turnaround in “Pain”—a hint of 1970-to-1973 George Harrison.
Best of all, they are further proof that the “death of the electric guitar” has been greatly exaggerated. In fact, that whole “the guitar is dead” thing is a wheelbarrow full of clickbait nonsense.
The Lone Star State-bred Texas Gentlemen are Beau Bedford, Nik Lee, Daniel Creamer, Matt McDonald and Ryan Ake, a hirsute bunch that has served as an all-purpose backing band for an array of singer-songwriters, including Leon Bridges, Nikki Lane and—at the 2016 Newport Folk Festival—Kris Kristofferson. The band was formed by Bedford, who shares chief engineering and producing responsibilities at Dallas’ Modern Electric Sound Recorders.
TX Jelly was recorded—live—in four days at Muscle Shoals’ FAME Studios (which reminds me of a line from the Rutles’ All You Need Is Cash: “Their first album was made in 20 minutes. Their second album took even longer”). The 11-song album, which was pared down from the 28 tunes the Gentlemen recorded in that quick span, summons the spirits of American songcraft as it heralds the arrival of 21st-century talent. And sure, I totally stole that line from the band’s press materials—but it’s right on the money.
Anywho, be sure to check out “Pain” (directed by Horatio Baltz) and the band’s previously released music video, “Habbie Doobie” (directed by Speed Bump), below. P.S.: No armadillos were injured during the making of the “Habbie Doobie” clip, which is a good thing; I look out for armadillos.
TX Jelly will be released September 15 via New West Records. It’s available now for preorder. And then there’s those T-shirts (I’ll take a large, by the way).
For more about the Texas Gentlemen, visit thetexasgentlemen.com and follow along on Facebook, the hot new social-media thing all the kids are talking about.
