The Texas Sapphires "As He Wanders” (Ike Records) [Link]
With creative songcraft and two distinctive vocalists, The Texas Sapphires glitter a little brighter than many among the burgeoning cache of honky tonk groups on the Texas music scene.
The Austin, Texas, band will celebrate the release of its new album, "As He Wanders,” with a show at 8 p.m. Saturday at Route 66 Bowl’s Silver Dollar Saloon, 3810 NW 39. Doors open at 7 p.m. For more information, call 946-2717 or go online to www.66bowl.com.
If you go, get ready to shuck the bowling shoes for your dancing shoes, as "Teardrops or Rain” and "190” are ideal old-fashioned two-stepping songs. "Riddled Days” gracefully waltzes with poetic lyrics such as "Time was I’d drink / The river like the sun / Burn those wheat fields / To desert for fun.”
Co-singer/songwriters Billy Brent Malkus and Rebecca Lucille Cannon are the crowning jewels for the Sapphires. They successfully switch off lead-vocal duties to croon about drinking too hard, crossing paths with the law and struggling with heartaches. Each classic-sounding country tune is heavily laced with bold pedal steel, fiddle and mandolin. And Malkus’ down-home warmth provides the perfect foil for Cannon’s old-school Emmylou Harris-like drawl.
The Sapphires also show off a sparkling sense of humor, sharing an engaging tale of excess with "How Did I Get So Sloppy Drunk (When I Was Drinkin’ Neat)” and zipping through the bluegrassy tribute to country living, "Farmer’s Tan.”
— Brandy McDonnell