The Vandoliers from the Dallas-Fort Worth area have burst on to the scene like a gang of outlaws on horseback kicking up big clouds of real dust, with weapons drawn, and ready to fire at the least provocation. Once the fuse is lit, watch out. It’s a similar rush to what we got when Jason & the Scorchers burst onto the scene, and later, and closer to home, the Old 97 and the True Believers. Yet, this six-piece unit with their brash youthful spirit, unique instrumentation, and dashes of Tejano are carving their own niche, three albums in, Forever being their first album for Bloodshot Records.
As much as any band, they live up to the Bloodshot moniker of “defiant roots.” They meld Red Dirt country, punk, and vibrant Tejano across ten songs with sizzling effect from blaring horns, fiddle, and heaping doses of twang. Formed in 2015, Vandoliers are lead singer and guitarist Joshua Fleming, bassist Mark Moncreiff, drummer Guyton Sanders, fiddler Travis Curry, electric guitarist Dustin Fleming, and multi-instrumentalist Cory Graves. Their first two albums Ameri-Kinda (2016) and The Native (2017) were on the State Fair label.
Joshua Fleming references an invite to Bloodshot’s SXSW annual party and naturally, it made for a terrific fit with Fleming’s raspy vocals, the rousing singalong choruses, and unbridled energy. That spirit is captured magically on this record opening with raging fiddle-driven “Miles and Miles” to the rave-up “Sixteen Years,” featuring distinctive trumpet. More rabble rousers include “ Troublemaker” with its blaring mix of trumpet, fiddle, and furiously strummed guitars, while Fleming in true Merle Haggard “Mama Tried” mode, sings about bad habits and character flaws. The ride continues at jet-like speed through “Nowhere Fast” before they take on anxiety and depression in “Fallen Again,” with its Tex-Mex horn and fiddle.
These self-proclaimed “Converse cowboys” spend a great deal of time on the road owing much to start the Old 97s. That relationship remains essential to the band and is key to this album. Joshua Fleming explains, “I wrote a series of songs about my life and gave it to the best musicians I know to flesh out. I spent over a year writing by myself , with friends and mentors, and we spend just as long filling our arrangements and writing scores. We wrote horn and fiddle parts on a trio tour through the mountains of New Mexico, Wyoming and Montana.” One of the mentors he refers to is Rhett Miller of Old 97s. “Before the band started diving into the new material, I sent Rhett a bunch of acoustic phone demos,” says Fleming. “Being the amazing person he is , he sent me back a 3000-word email of advice that read like a master class in the art of songwriting. Beyond their influence musically, they’ve really taken us under their wing, letting us plays shows with them and giving us all kinds of advice along the way.”
One song that stands apart is the ballad “Cigarettes in the Rain.” Fleming describes as “a story of a man with his back against the wall, stuck with a problem and no solution.” The genesis of the song is just one of those special moments that serendipitously leads to a song “… cracking jokes about how futile it is to smoke when it’s storming outside, and the song just fell out of all of us. It’s one of my favorite songs I’ve had a part in writing, and I love it when things fit together perfectly.”
There are a couple of other tunes that, while remaining up-tempo, speak to some retreat from the road; the engaging “Bottom Dollar Boy” and “Tumbleweed” which seeks unconditional love and embracing their career paths. This is a tight unit, exemplified by the tattoo on each member’s arm, “VFFV” (Vandoliers Forever, Forever Vandoliers). It’s their credo of hope and determination. They are blazing their own rowdy path. Hold onto to your hats.
