FAB T-BIRDS: Tuff Enuff, Were They Actual Meat
The Fabulous Thunderbirds have been something of a musical anomaly; their current well-deserved success, after four albums and roughly 12 years of playing steel-packed, blues-drenched rock ’n’ roll, seems to be one of those things that has no singular explanation.
FAB T-BIRDS: Tuff Enuff, Were They Actual Meat
FEATURES
by Karen Schlosberg
The Fabulous Thunderbirds have been something of a musical anomaly; their current well-deserved success, after four albums and roughly 12 years of playing steel-packed, blues-drenched rock ’n’ roll, seems to be one of those things that has no singular explanation. Have the times finally caught up with the T-Birds? Is it their new label? Is it their excellent fifth LP, Tuft Enuff?
The whole is indeed greater than the sum of its parts; the question "Why now?," on the lips of everyone from the Today show to the New York Times, elicits good-natured groans from T-Birds Kim Wilson and Jimmie Vaughan.
"I think it's because we just kept work ing hard and we kept playing and we wouldn't stop," says guitarist Vaughan in his soft, melodic Texas twang. "I mean, the music has always been there. It's the same; we haven't really changed our music any. It's the first time we've had a record company that was behind us, we have a new manager-it's like starting over. Hopefully, it'll turn out right this time," he says, then laughs. "Whatever right is."