The Time Jumpers
Album: The Time Jumpers
Label: Rounder
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.thetimejumpers.com

Whoa, this is real good! If you've any inclination towards pure unadulterated western swing, then this will suit you right down to the ground. It's almost too good to be true - an absolutely authentic vibe, a combo that oozes sincerest affection for the idiom, plays with all the necessary high jinks and abandon, and even writes their own material that's totally in the spirit and manner. To call it truly timeless is no exaggeration, and in this instance (unlike some western swing acts) likely proving as good on record as it undoubtedly is live. Think an even more rootsy and fiddle-rich version of Asleep At The Wheel, maybe, and you'll be close.

I need to jump back in time myself to tell you that this assemblage of high-dollar studio musos formed back in Nashville in 1998, wanting to "spend some spare time drinking beer and jamming with their sonically gifted buddies". They quickly built a rabidly devoted following (which included big stars of the music scene in the know), and didn't need to prove their chops by the time they released a Grammy-nominated live album (Jumpin' Time) back in 2007 (even tho' this one entirely escaped my radar at the time - my loss, evidently!).

Next you need to know that the band comprises a host of rather wellknown names: Dawn Sears, "Ranger Doug" Green, Andy Reiss, Dennis Crouch, Jeff Taylor, Joe Spivey, Larry Franklin, Paul Franklin, Billy Thomas, Kenny Sears and now (their latest recruit)… Vince Gill ! And if that list doesn't whet your appetite, then nothing can!… What other group can boast three fabulous lead vocalists (Dawn, Ranger Doug and Vince)?

But it's the ultra-tasty sound of the band's three fiddles in consort that kicks off the opening Texoma Bound, a euphoric radio-days-style instrumental number positively brimming over with joie-de-vivre and breezy accordion fills from Jeff. Thereafter, the disc presents a dazzling parade of classic western swing and country styles, from the sequence of crack swing solos that graces On The Outskirts Of Town to the rousing dance-floor duet Texas On A Saturday Night; from the brilliantly lonesome ballads So Long Apart and Faint Of Heart and the soulful-mex of Three Sides To Every Story to the uptempo honky-tonk heartbreak of The Woman Of My Dreams, the gently mournful swing of New Star Over Texas - it's all there for your continued delectation. These guys just can't put a foot wrong.

You'll gather by now that I love this disc to bits; it's just gotta rank as one of THE feelgood records of the year!

David Kidman