Music Reviews
Jun-Jul 2004
Swingin’ Country Dance Toons
Dave Hamilton & Jeff Bradshaw, Indie release
Two veteran session players with outstanding resumes to match their talents, have finally released the album that fans have long been waiting for.
 Swingin’ Country Dance Toons from guitarist Dave Hamilton and steel player Jeff Bradshaw is a gem of a disc that finds the two, in the company of some equally gifted friends, skating, slipping and sliding through a songbook that could be mistaken for the cream of western swing instrumentals.
Fans of this form of music will delight in the cowboy jazz arrangements that take cues from the albums that the late Lenny Breau and steel master Buddy Emmons recorded in the seventies.
Amazing precision, fluid and incredibly intricate interplay, and solos that take wicked and unexpected turns are the main part of the equation for the two session players who have been impressing since they were part of Ian Tyson’s band back in the Old Corrals and Sagebrush era.
A jazz-like rhythm section featuring drummer Thom Moon, bassist Mike Lent and rhythm guitarist Mel Wilson is more than enough of a solid foundation to allow Bradshaw and Hamilton to fire off stunning runs in unison or tag team one another with some cool harmonic twists.
Swingin’ Country Dance Tunes doesn’t miss a beat as gorgeous melodies on pieces like Don’t Fence Me In and Canadian Sunset are bordered by the meaty grooves of numbers like Big Beaver and Bud’s Bounce.
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