Babe Rufus Strikeout Studio Recordings
I Can't Hold Out - An Elmore James classic blues rocker with a touch of country on the vocal..."Bluntry", you might say!
Madison Blues - Another Elmore classic performed in the same vein as above...I guess you could say that this is one of the first hip hop tunes ever, as the verses are spoken rather than sung...Elmore James was ahead of his time (of course, you can't beat his singing)!
Burnin' In The Third Degree - Fans of the classic movie "The Terminator" will recognize this cover of one of the obscure but killer songs from the soundtrack. For this selection I recruited Cyndi "Clove" Sheeran to provide the scorching vocals! Enjoy!
Can't Find My Way Home - A "Stairway To Heaven-esque" light-heavy arrangement on the classic Blind Faith track...once again, featuring "Clove" Sheeran on the fantastic vocal!
A Cry For Candy - The lone original song here written by B.R. A power ballad, 80's style...not exactly expecting to bring back the genre to the top of the charts, but what the hey, right?
I'm On Fire - Back to country mode here...you very might not recognize this cover of a Bruce Springsteen hit from the 80's at first due to its radically different arrangement, but I thought the kind of treatment fit this song!
You Never Call Me By My Name - This is as straight-up country as I get...no fiddle or steel guitar, but I flavored my slide guitar as close to a steel sound as I could!
Polk Salad Annie - Another "Bluntry" take on the classic Tony Joe White tune made even more famous by Elvis in his later stage years...couldn't resist throwing in a Hendrix-type guitar solo in the middle, followed by a short AC/DC-ish solo ender before returning to the opening riff...no boundaries with cover tunes, I always say!
Steamroller Blues - OK, I just couldn't leave The King alone! This James Taylor tune also immortalized by Elvis is pretty faithful to his 70's stage show arrangement, with a little slide guitar and organ thrown in for good measure!
Turn Towards The Mirror - This "hidden" gem was written and performed by Stevie Ray Vaughan's band Double Trouble (from their one and only CD NOT featuring the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan). This great album spearheaded by drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon featured a host of luminaries providing the vocals and guitar work throughout...on this particular track, they recruited the songwriting, guitar and vocal talents of Charlie Sexton along with more guitar and vocals from Doyle Bramhall II, thus creating a reunion of the Arc Angels! I always thought this track was dynamite, and I always wanted it to rock a little harder throughout, so that was my intention with my own take here...this is probably the hardest rockin' track I've mustered at this point. Providing a duet of sorts between the country-style singing and straight singing on the choruses...endless possibilities with multi-track recordings!
Deja Voodoo - This is my genre-bending take on the classic Kenny Wayne Shepherd blues-rocker from the 90's. A fantastic disciple of Stevie Ray Vaughan's guitar-playing style, and like SRV, KWS has always also made frequent nods to the late, great Jimi Hendrix as well (hence the term "Voodoo"). Along with my added country tinge on the vocal plus some slide guitar thrown in, I take the Hendrix-ish element to crazy extents in this long, self-indulgent version...lol!
Baby Bye Bye - This southern rock-tinged number was featured in the old, classic flick, "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia." A long-forgotten film that has not passed the test of time (it was never re-released on DVD, nor is it available on Apple TV streaming, Netflix, etc.), but was a popular one of many country music-oriented movies that heavily trended back in the late 70's and early 80's, such as Urban Cowboy, Honeysuckle Rose...the list goes on! And while not many of those movies were exactly darlings of the critics, most of the music from them is undeniably top-notch! This particlular film was different in that it did not feature any actual country-music singers in the movie, though its main stars Dennis Quaid and Kristy McNichol nevertheless turned in some fine onstage performances themselves! "Baby Bye Bye" was one of several in the movie penned by the legendary Keith Allison (who had a non-speaking role in the movie as a bar band guitarist) that somehow did not make it onto the movie's soundtrack album, so I decided to give it a go with my own verson here, cooked up Skynyrd-style with a Freebird-esque twin lead guitar solo (and briefly 3 guitars lol)! Also, the lovely Baretta makes her lead vocal debut here, duetting the lead vocal duties and providing some eye candy! And last, but not least, a special guest of sorts makes an appearance during the end guitar jam...wait for it!
"BRady Medley - OK, I've saved the craziest for last here (lol)! I'll come right out here and admit one of my guilty pleasures...The Brady Bunch! Yes, I have all five seasons on DVD! While their musical performances featured in some of their TV episodes are generally maxed out on the cheese factor, you can't help but be entertained by their catchy little "Keep On" number in the Silver Platters episode, ultra-corny lyrics notwithstanding! Barry Williams finally revealed what the heck a "makeshift Model TA" is...it's an old Ford Model T with a modified engine. So the Brady kids were singing about a Model T wearing car racing outfits?? I guess the modified Model T engine allowed it to reach a mind-boggling THIRTY mph...lol!
Anyway, one day I realized that the chord progression of the "Keep On" classic (hey, it was featured in the 90's Brady Bunch movie lol) is almost exactly the same as the old Beatles classic "I Saw Her Standing There". So I figured...why not use some computer trickery and allow myself to have a medley/duet with my childhood heroes...no, not the Beatles, the Brady Six! lol...
Heresy? Maybe, but hey...you only live dangerously once! Hopefully the Fab Four would forgive me if they found out about this...lol!
Click the buttons below to hear each recording!