Trade Union [Import]

There's something in the soil in Oklahoma that produces some great music performers

Oklahoma is not the first place you think of when you think the hotbed of music. But when you realize that Western Swing legend Bob Wills was based out of Tulsa (even though he was born in Texas and his band was called "the Texas Playboys"), and both Leon Russell and J.J. Cale were born there, you realized this Midwestern state shouldn't be overlooked.

Guitarist Steve Ripley formed the Oklahoma-bred super group The Tractors in 1994, and is good friends with Russell and Cale. They had one major Country/Pop hit with "Baby Likes To Rock It".

Now, 15 years later, Ripley has reformed the Tractors for this new album which recaptures much of the energy from that first album. But this is mostly a Ripley project with the guitarist on lead vocals and the composer, or co-writer, of seven of the ten tracks. The disc starts off on high energy with the rocking "Up Jumped the Boogie" (no, not the old Sugarhill Gang hip hop classic, but a new song which Ripley co-wrote with Russell) and keeps up the energy with the Harlan Howard classic "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down". Cale composed - and plays on - "Rhythm Bone" and Russell wrote, and plays, piano, on "Good Old Days". So all the best tracks are grouped up front. The pace only slows on two tracks ("My Blue Heart" and "That's Where It Hurts") but picks up on "Midnight Train" which sounds like a traditional ballad given a blues band treatment (and it works). At over five minutes, it's the longest track on the album.

The instrumental arrangements are creative and varied. Along with Ripley's acoustic guitar there's piano, Hammond B3 organ, accordion, and - on the final track - "It's only Love" - soprano, alto, tenor and bass saxophones (all played by Joe Davis)!

As noted above, not all tracks work - but most of them do - which is why I only gave this album four stars. But, it you want your "Country" music with a "Kick" this CD should make you pretty darn happy.

Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"

Many years ago after visiting my in-laws on their farm in rural Oklahoma, my then-five-year-old son Jason (after an afternoon of riding around in his Grandpa's pickup) looked at me with a big grin on his face and said, "Dad, I sure like that farm music". Despite growing up in Oklahoma with its rich history of western-swing & country music roots, I had a similar revelation in 1994 when I first heard the debut CD of an Oklahoma-bred group called "The Tractors", fronted by an old friend, the multi-talented Steve Ripley.

That self-titled CD was filled with toe-tapping, boogie-woogie, good-timey music that made you smile and want to get up and dance `til you dropped. Since that first release the genius that is Steve Ripley has continued to crank out "Tractor" music, including his latest offering, and the first Tractor CD in almost seven years, "Trade Union". Filled with many great original tunes and the usual stellar cast of "satellite" musicians, which include Ripley-friend and musical compatriot Leon Russell, singer/songwriter/guitarist J.J. Cale, and drummer Jimmy Karstein, all three originators of what has been coined "The Tulsa Sound", "Trade Union" may be Steve Ripley's finest work to date.

The opening song, "Up Jumped The Boogie", co-written with Russell and featuring his good-timey piano, is a rollicking, high-energy rocker inspired by a suggestion from writer Stephen King, and featuring Ripley's typical "better listen close or you'll miss something" arrangements. Having heard an early demo of this song I couldn't wait for its eventual release. Let me tell you, it was worth the wait...

Next is the Harlan Howard-penned classic "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down" featuring the pedal-steel and fiddle of multi-instrumentalist Fats Kaplin, the piano stylings of Spencer Sutton (formerly of the late-Debbie Campbell's band), Tractor Casey Van Beek on bass, Jimmy Karstein on drums, Bud Deal & Mike Panno on saxophone, and head-Tractor Steve Ripley on guitars and vocals. This one just has the feel of a hit song...

"Rhythm Bone", a J.J. Cale composition, was originally a Cale demo that Ripley took and built a production around, adding additional vocals, guitars, horns, etc. The final result is a "J.J. Tractors" hit, featuring Cale & Ripley on vocals/guitars, Casey Van Beek on bass, Jimmy Karstein on drums, Fats Kaplin on steel guitar/accordion, Bud Deal on tenor sax, Mike Panno on baritone sax, and Glen Mitchell on Hammond B3 organ. I keep hearing that backbeat...

The Leon Russell composition "Good Old Days" reflects the gospel-tinged good-timey piano chops of Russell, along with Ripley's tight, swinging arrangement that features himself on vocals/guitar, Russell on vocals/piano, Casey Van Beek on bass, Jimmy Karstein on drums, Fats Kaplin on fiddle/steel/accordion, Bud Deal & Mike Panno on saxophones, Glen Mitchell on B3, and the late-Byron Davis & Cheryl Wright on backup vocals. As the song says, it makes you feel so good, talkin' `bout the good old days...

Ripley slows it down with "There's Gonna Be Some Changes Made", a Steve Ripley/Walt Richmond composition, featuring Ripley on vocals/guitar, background vocals by the late-Debbie Campbell, ex-Silver Bullet member David Teegarden on drums, Fats Kaplin on steel guitar, Glen Mitchell on B3, Joe Davis on saxophone, and a mini-Tractors reunion in the form of Ron Getman on guitar, Casey Van Beek on bass, Walt Richmond on piano, and Jamie Oldaker on tambourine, which helps give this track the great feel of earlier Tractor releases.

I'll leave the remainder of "Trade Union" for you to discover on your own, but rest assured that this album is a brilliant, fun-filled journey through the world of Oklahoma western-swing, country, rock, blues, and jazz, with a pinch of red dirt & the Tulsa Sound thrown in for good measure. And to quote my son, "I sure like that farm music!"

Steve Todoroff
Tulsa Area Music Archives

I've enjoyed The Tractors music for over a decade now and they're still kicking out the same old music. To some "same old music" means bad, terrible and stagnated. To me this band had some great songs you could just tap your feet to and couldn't help but want to dance around a bit. Well every album I've ever put on of theirs makes me feel just like it did 10 years ago. Not many bands can do that. I love change but sometimes the "same old same old" is A-okay by me.