Événement

Kim Lenz and the Jaguars

With a mom who rode in rodeo and a dad who was a fan of Wolfman Jack, rockabilly queen Kim Lenz learned about good music early on during her youth in southern California. She grew up listening to the recordings of such artists as Janis Martin, Wanda Jackson, Faron Young, and Johnny Horton. During her childhood she played the piano, and she started playing the guitar during her teen years. For a time when she lived in Los Angeles, her workplace's radio only picked up the music of the big band era, which led her to become acquainted with many of the old standards. At one time, Lenz majored in psychology while she attended the University of North Texas. Before she earned her degree, she hooked up with a few musicians who wanted to form a band. Lenz joined in, and the half a dozen singers and musicians called themselves Rocket, Rocket. Before a year had passed, however, the group disbanded. In 1994, she settled in Dallas, where two years later she pulled together a band of her own, the Jaguars.

After a recording and performing hiatus that left fans panting for her return, Kim is back in the groove with her best recorded work yet, the album It's All True, which she produced herself and is releasing on her own Riley Records imprint. The new collection is a flaming slab of fuel-injected contemporary rockabilly that handsomely shows off Kim's sass, energy, and romp-stomping vocal chops. It secures her position in the small pantheon of great female rockabilly singers that includes Wanda Jackson and the late Janis Martin singers with whom Lenz has shared many a stage. And it displays the genre's diversity and impact.

The new album features the fearsome instrumental firepower of the reconvened Jaguars guitarist Nick Curran, bassist Jake Erwin, and drummer Scotty Tecce and a guest vocal appearance by Southern California's soulful rockabilly maestro Big Sandy. The 12 tracks include seven Kim Lenz originals, a track co-written by Kim and Big Sandy, a number crafted expressly for Kim by the Lucky Stars' Sage Guyton, and two rampaging covers.