Review
An audacious two-disc initial release from a new label, disc one of this set captures Chris Gaffney and band plying their trade and includes Gaffney gems spanning his three previous releases (highlighted by the utterly classic King of the Blues) a lone unreleased number (Fade to Grey) and a passel of covers meant to demonstrate the bar-band prowess of the Cold Hard Facts. To this end, there's versions of Cal Smith's first number one, The Lord Knows I'm Drinkin', Dean Martin's Buona Sera and a greasy scorching of Link Davis' Albuquerque. There's also nods to two of three Flatlanders via an uptempo turn through Jimmie Dale Gilmore's Dallas and a crazed take on Ely's Are You Listening Lucky that interpolates Deep Purple's Highway Star mid-way through.
The Then Some is a reissue of the 1986 EP Road to Indio. Although it wears the roughness of a first effort, Gaffney's rough-and-ready vocals and his trademark mix of Tex-Mex and straight-up honky tonk are fully evident on the shuffling A Bridge Too Far, the organ-fueled White Girl, which sounds like a primo lost Los Lobos track, the classic C&W wordplay of the weepy Alcoholidays and the rocked-up cover of Lefty Frizzell's I'm An Old Old Man. A welcome reissue and return from Chris Gaffney. --Stuart Munro, Country Standard Time
About the Artist
Chris Gaffney and the Cold Hard Facts are an integral part of the Orange County/LA roots-rock/Americana music scene. Playing together for 15 years everywhere from Long Beach, CA, to Vienna, Austria, they have achieved a tightness and sound both universal and unique. They switch from pure country to cajun to 60's soul to hard rocking originals with every whim of the rodeo-clown band leader.
Chris Gaffney and the Cold Hard Facts have recorded three earlier studio albums. Chris also has two solo albums as well as appearing on albums by Tom Russell, Lucinda Williams, The Iguanas, and Billy Bacon and the Forbidden Pigs.
Band members: Chris Gaffney - vocals, guitar, accordion
Danny Ott - vocals, lead guitar
Mike Barry - vocals, bass guitar
Wyman Reese - keyboards, guitar
Doug Livingston - pedal steel guitar
Tucker Fleming - drums
R.J. Simensen - rub board
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