Well, he’s done Nashville and John Lennon, so why SHOULDN’T guitarist Bill Frisell turn turn turn back to the songs of his influential childhood? He mixes famous instrumental tunes made famous by the likes of Duane Eddy and Dick Dale along with pop tunes with famous guitar licks such as Roger McQuinn’s famous Rickenbacker picking on Byrd material. No pun intended, but you feel like you’re picking Frisell’s brain as he and Greg Leisz/g, Tony Scherr/b and Kenny Wollesen/dr dream up a “Rider’s on the Storm” version of the surfer tune “Pipeline” or VFW takes of “Cannonball Rag” and “Bryant’s Boogie.” Frisell taps into his inner Steve Cropper on “Surfer Girl” and thunders through Link Wray’s “Rumble.” His own material such as “The Shortest Day” feels like a tribute to Santo and John’s “Sleepwalk” while “Lift Off” fits into the aerospace angst of the era. The biggest question you’re going to walk away with here is “Why doesn’t anyone record instrumentals anymore?” or at least “Why aren’t there any guitar licks worth stealing?” This disc is an homage to the style of telling a story with your axe, which Frisell does remarkably well here.
Okeh Records