Roots Rock Action Figures – Calling Dr. Strong
R.S. Field has earned a reputation for being the most non-Nashville producer in Nashville. His senses of history and sonics come together in the studio to benefit whoever is on the other side of the glass. Field’s credits range from the skewed roots-pop of Webb Wilder to John Mayall’s comeback blues to Sonny Landreth’s swampy odes. Field’s work on Billy Joe Shaver’s Tramp On Your Street pushed the album onto many top-10 lists for 1993, and his production of R.B. Morris’ 1997 debut Take That Ride gained Morris a measure of attention he might otherwise have missed.
For his solo recording debut, Field has assembled an Impossible Missions Force of studio talent and dubbed them the Roots Rock Action Figures. Guitarist Kenny Vaughan is a pliable player who can crunch chords or slink through a solo at the drop of a pick. Drummer Les James Lester has bashed for the likes of Webb Wilder and Los Straitjackets and brings his discernible touch to the beat. Bassist/co-producer Scott Baggett is Field’s secret weapon, playing most of the remaining instruments on the disc.
The irony is that Field’s acronym-ready RRAF should sound so much like another alphabet band, namely NRBQ. When Fields and the Figures play it with an elbow to the ribs (“Check Up From The Neck Up”, “How Long Can She Last,” the title track), their smiles are obvious, and the pace is relentless, much like Terry Adams and his band of tipsies. Elsewhere, the surf instrumental “Twangeaux” has all the bravado and none of the cartoony overload of the Rev. Horton Heat, and Field proves he can write about the heart with the gently muscular “Heart She Can’t Beat” and “The Rest Will Take Care Of Itself”. Field brings all his producing and performing experience to bear here, even offering his own lo-fi version of “Powerful Stuff”, the hit he wrote for the Fabulous Thunderbirds.
As a total package, the Roots Rock Action Figures live up to their name. Their roots run deep, they rock like crazy, and they’re all action. And if R.S. Field is involved, it figures.