13 is Brian Setzer’s 13th album, featuring 13 new songs that in some cases, are a departure from his trademarked rockabilly roots. In fact, his last release, Rockabilly Riot Vol. 1, was about as close to pure rockabilly as you could get, with its meticulous recreations of classic Sun Records sides. This new project ventures into a harder-edged rock sound, with rockabilly surfacing only on a few tracks. How does it shape up?
Fans of Setzer’s guitar skills won’t be disappointed! As I’ve mentioned in previous years, his guitar performances have only been getting better with each passing year. As I see it, the big band connection broadened his repertoire by including some jazz licks and progressions into his playing style. Much like fellow Stray Cat Lee Rocker has become one of the foremost authorities on the slap bass, Setzer carries on the rockabilly tradition while continuing to expand its horizons by incorporating a big band (as he’s done with his highly successful Orchestra), or by recreating and preserving the old sound of the original rockabilly sound they were making at Sun Records way back in the 50s. For yours truly, it has been an interesting and entertaining trip along the way! (This is from someone who’s seen the Brian Setzer Orchestra four times, and a Stray Cats fan from way back.)
Brian Setzer brings his trademark guitars to a new project that is decidedly un-rockabilly for the most part. The most you’ll find here is “Really Rockabilly”, which pokes fun at all of the recent variations on rockabilly, and features his fellow Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom. Otherwise, you’ll find a variety of other styles in this project. Southern rock is represented by “Broken Down Piece of Junk” and “Everybody’s Up To Something”, where a song like “Drugs & Alcohol (Bullet Holes)” is just plain ol’ hard rock. The instrumental “Mini Bar Blues” is a nice bluesy diversion. One common thread throughout, other than Setzer’s guitar playing: the subjects of the lyrics will be familiar to long-time fans: here are songs about cars, women and hard living.
My recommendation? Fans of Setzer in general, and fans of his guitar skills, will enjoy this set, and for them I’d give it a thumbs up. If I were looking to introduce someone to his overall catalog, though, I’d look elsewhere. (In fact, I’d still point them to Ignition! from a few years ago, as a good intro to his trio-format rockabilly style.) Overall it’s a nice, solid set that has a lot of stylistic variation to it. Go for it!