Jim Carpenter and The Hoolios Rock the House at Johnny D's

Jim Carpenter and The Hoolios
Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant and Music Club
17 Holland Street
Somerville, MA
June 12, 2014
http://johnnyds.com
Jim Carpenter and The Hoolios

Jim Carpenter and the Hoolios are one damn fine all purpose party band. With their deep repertoire, they suss out the mood of the room, whether filled with auditorium seats or dancers itchy-ready to move, and give it to them with both barrels.

They drew a huge crowd to Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant and Music Club last week. Nobody left disappointed.

You want a band with flash?  Look elsewhere.

You want a band that spirits syncopated sunshine, sly humor, and the occasional dark ballad? Tune in to The Hoolios.

The band’s sound is steeped in the unmistakable flavors of a New Orleans po’ boy, the Gulf Coast, and southwest Louisiana. Once you think you have the band’s style figured out, they slip in a virile Rock n Roll, alt-country, or rootsy Americana number. For the dance crowd, this is nirvana. Their playful music mystically strides over genres. More than once, I saw couples dancing two-steps, rumba and cha cha - to the same song!

Jim Carpenter and The Hoolios have a killer dance groove and a great repertoire to back it up. Their characteristic sound has a distinct aura located between New Orleans and Little Havana. Whether you’re listening to one of their CDs while washing the dishes or you're on the dance floor, you're probably smiling. By the time they finish "Who Stole The Wheels From Bennie's Cadillac" (see playlist), I’m thinking these guys are a cross between the playful winking of Jimmy Buffett, the lyricism of Van Morrison and a personality all their own.

The five piece band tearing up the joint is Jim Carpenter - vocals, guitars; Michael Derry - vocals, electric piano, accordion; Sandy Allen - harmony vocals, mandolin, guitar; Mike Palazzolo - harmony vocals, bass; Ronnie Lewis - vocals, drums. “The Sandman” appears never to have picked up an instrument he doesn’t want to play - tonight it is guitar, mandolin and tambourine.

What a crew. Put a suit on Carpenter, Derry, or Lewis and they could sell you insurance, real estate, or advertising. Allen, in his picaresque floppy had, faded jeans, outlandish snow white beard, appears to have grown up in Haight Ashbury and never left in spirit and wardrobe. Mike Palazzolo, black ponytail, rugged build, dark unreadable eyes, is the kind of guy you’d want to be sitting next to in friendly conversation if a fracas broke out in the bar.

On stage, they are as understated to the point of self-effacement. No frills, no bombastic solos, only solos that last just long enough to put you on notice that if they wanted to show off their talents, they could bury you with them. Then there’s the music they make: sunny, deep, original, creative, non-conformist, self stamped.

Some bands play a variation on a theme all night long. Jim Carpenter and the Hoolios playlist tonight is filled with original songs. Yes they’re connected with a delivery system that is fueled on high-test musicianship but there’s no sense of repetition throughout the night. Most songs three/four minute range, no fluff, just real dance material that helps your feet glide over the floor (which was packed).

 Jim Carpenter, Mike Derry

Carpenter is short on patter. At best, he’ll laconically tell you the name of the next song. So we listened intently when he spent a few minutes talking about his upbringing in an area so rural that he never tasted warm meat till he moved away from Chincoteague Island. With no refrigeration or gas stoves, meat was smoked or dried. It took him a while to become accustomed to eating warm meat. For the life of me, I can’t remember what song he used this story to introduce.

“This is the go-to band,” Bobby Perry says during the break. Bobby has forgotten more about music history and provenance, from the arcane to the iconic, than my total knowledge of it. This, my friends, is an endorsement a band should cherish.

Sandy Allen; Ronnie Lewis (drums), Mike Palazzolo, bass

Partial Playlist

"Freedom Never Was the Prize for Jack" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzvQN1k4DqY
Sung by drummer Ronnie Lewis, a saucy little upbeat zydeco/two-step/Rumba, take your pick.

“In The Heart of the Night”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMGFlauoSDc
Jim Carpenter sings this haunting rumba-ish tempo ballad. The Latin tempo is unmistakable.

"He Walks in Vain" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLbmBZCo7C4
Upbeat ballad. It has registered by now that we are we are being presented with one tight band, a work pail bunch of guys who happen to be packing gourmet delights without the slightest hint of arrogance, bluster, stage antics or, for that matter, showmanship. Unless of course you don't count the fact that every song we're going to hear tonight is delivered with pure songwriting and instrumental luster. These songs have narrative drive you can savor from your chair or, if you concentrate, on the dance floor.

“Little Victory” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKSbOu5529Q
Carpenter sings this bittersweet ballad, listen for Sandy' mandolin.

“Sweet Mystery” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7lTEyn3V34
A ballad, with that sweet New Orleans undertone of rolling rumba is the bomb, I see people doing rumba, two-step and zydeco all to the same song. Carpenter digs in to this poignant and poetic ballad, his guitar riffs matched by Derry’s exquisite squeezebox trills. I can’t help feeling that Carpenter sings this from personal experienc

“Roll Me Like Thunder” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmHSgbAdV6Y
Mike Derry has great pipes to go with his mastery of accordion and electric piano. The two or three times he really let go wasn’t recorded by me because I can’t dance and record video at the same time (yet).

“Who Stole The Wheels Off Bennie’s Cadillac?”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wXWumwP1GM
A hilarious alt-country/zydeco rocker and a cover of The Iguanas song. The Sandman joyous clickety clacks his washboard, drummer Ronnie Lewis sings main vocals, the rest of the crew sings harmonies. This song is a hoot.

“Did You Say Something”
‘This is a song with no words,” Carpenter says and for a couple of minutes is exactly that then seems to segue into lyrics.

“One Night Stan” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YujNzIMWuJw
Yet another all purpose dance number, about a gigolo, no less, Derry’s playful accordion peals, foot stomping vocals, Carpenter’s bursts of guitar slicker, and the whole band havin’ a grand ‘ol time and damn, so are we!

This is a good time band with dance grooves to die for. How they manage to crank out one song after another with such varied rhythms, grooves, and emotional tones is a miracle you need to witness yourself.

 “We were going to do more of an acoustic set, maybe pull out some our darker material but when the dancers filled the floor from the first song, we changed the set list on the fly,” Carpenter says during the break. A band that pays attention…another feather in The Hoolios cap.

Second Set (by this time my notes are thin, I’m having way too much fun to take notes.)

“I’m Down With Love” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfRP8aKRBFA
Sunny unny little opener with a distinct Latin rhythm - Mike Derry’s vocals and accordion hitting the high notes, the band pops the cork for the second set.

“Jolene, Jolene” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYzZgxRZzDc
I could only take 38 seconds of listening to Jim Carpenter and band crank out this high-energy rocker then had to dance. Geez, Louise…er, Jolene!
Relentless rhythm and bass lines from Ronnie Lewis and Mike Palazzolo. Lewis is one of those locomotive drummers whose pounding pulse keeps the songs on the rails no matter how many turns the music makes.  


“Silver Triangle”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc1oMVVV530
One of the few waltzes, probably one of the songs they would have played an acoustic set, a little bittersweet song of love and loss, close harmonies, original lyrics, heartfelt, great counterpoint to the energy of the rest of the set. Jim might have lived this one, he certainly sang it with conviction.

“Hole In My Heart” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVSVbcCzfNE
Jim Carpenter with another wowzer, a rollicking rumba number (or swing, or cha-cha, all of them being done on the floor. Carpenter gets across the whole spectrum of aches, pain, loss, regret, to an impossibly upbeat tempo, a real gem.

Encore "Jambalaya" Ward Hayden of Guns n Roses joins the fun. My camera maxxed out, i found this video taken by another patron https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE0pmxz7UX4

Photos and videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Comments

[Bill Ives]

Brings back some good memories of dancing during summer in the city. Hope to see you at Satchmo fest this year.

[Brian Bishop]

Paul,

glad someone was paying attention. this is the kind of thing i would write, but since i set up the show it doesn't seem quite right for me to do the review. You have lavished great attention on the kings of the alt. connecticut movement and i really appreciate it. I can't say this praise is undeserved, and i certainly hope it doesn't fall on deaf ears.
best,
brian
PS few corrections from the heat of battle to follow

[Brian Bishop]

well really only one correction and a few notes:

the cameo at the end was Ward Hayden but his band is Girls, Guns and Glory --- more or less the same thing.

and I'm afraid there is probably no video, but before the Hank Williams standard, Ward joined them for an early Girls Guns and Glory tune, Susie. Jim picked it as emblematic of Ward's inner Roy Orbison. It too has a tinge of latin flavor with Ward's typical straightforward lyric that fits well to his alluring vocal style that exhibits just a tinge of husk on a sweet cob.

Note: Bennie's Cadillac is an Iguanas cover.

[Brian Bishop]

PS - how did you hear about this. we did have a good crowd for a late booked Thursday night. Don't think I get you with my Bishop's Castle mailing list. Just want to put out a big thank you to all the folks within Johnny Ds geography who helped spread the word.

[Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. aka pt at large]

Hey Brian,
Thanks for the helpful feedback.I was one of the great unwashed, had no idea who the Hoolios were, and, clearly, am now enlightened. Appreciate your note about Ward Hayden and will add a nod to the Iguanas with my description of Bennie's Cadillac

[Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. aka pt at large]

Brian,
I heard about this from my friend Rebecca Wilson, a dancer and lover of good music from Baton Rouge to Boston, who sends her "list" occasional missives about music not to be missed. In the same message she gave a shout out to your event at Bishop's Castle on June 15.

[Belle B]

Thanks, Paul. Great review! And fun to be able to play the songs again.