Grinderswitch (as documented) released the bulk of their recordings between 1974 and 1981. The particular focus of this entry is on "Red Wing", their record from 1977. These guys were a good time R&B boogie band, and "Red Wing" proves it on all the tracks which clearly had blues, R&B and even some country influence. ...And, the soaring guitars of Dru Lombar and Larry Howard are, well, icing on the cake. It's a shame Grinderswitch never got the recognition of some of the more mainstream boogie rock bands like the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the the Charlie Daniels Band. These guys definitely had the talent and the musicianship. One listen to the "Red Wing" record, cements that.
All the tracks are worth a listen. But, the notables definitely are the title cut "Red Wing" that opens the album, (a song about a beautiful woman that is somehow symbolized by a flying bird). The poignant line in the song is "I wish that red wing and my baby would come home." There are other boogie love songs that take up the middle of the record such as a joyful romp called "You And Me" that has a definite pop vibe, "That Special Woman" (a bluesier piece), "Taste of Love" (which has a haunting, minor key melody and resembles a Flamenco tune in it's rhythms), a rollicking road anthem simply titled "This Road" (which was featured a few postings ago), and reminds me a lot of a Marshall Tucker Band song, and a cool, slide guitar drenched cover of Harlan Howard's song "Watermelon Time In Georgia", that I first heard on a Lefty Frizzell recording.
Grinderswitch has a lot of cool arrangements on this record and each song offers a different taste of what they were all about. The ending track, "Faster and Faster" is somewhat trite. But, it shows in song, a woman's love for her man, slipping away quickly, and sounds like a cross between polka and Western swing. I do enjoy Dru Lombar's voice and guitar work on this record particularly, and co-lead guitarist Larry Howard, along with keyboardist Paul Hornsby (who was a Capricorn Records producer, and also worked with the Marshall Tucker Band), Joe Dan Petty on bass (who was also a roadie for the Allman Brothers), and drummer, Rick Burnett.
Ironically, on their first album "Honest To Goodness" (some of the tracks from that record have been posted here), Dickey Betts and Jaimoe from the Allman Brothers, were guest artists. Grinderswitch is a neat and unique band. It's just that not many of their recordings exist on CD or perhaps even on vinyl anymore and are quite rare. So, they are fortuitous finds indeed. Later on, Dru Lombar had another band (as highlighted in that Swampland.com profile), called Dr. Hector & The Groove Injectors).
Here's the full track listing for "Red Wing"
1. Redwing
2. You And Me
3. That Special Woman
4. Taste of Love
5. This Road
6. Wings of an Angel
7. Watermelon Time In Georgia
8. I Bought All The Lies
9. Faster and Faster
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