For a year or two in the mid-'80s, Lone Justice were the talk of Los Angeles, a band who played snappy Bakersfield-style country with a punk rocker's energy and passion, blessed with a lead singer whose voice could give Dolly Parton a run for her money. However, folks outside of California who had to judge the band based on their two studio albums -- 1985's Lone Justice and 1986's Shelter -- often wondered what the fuss was about, given the overcooked production and uncertain direction of their LPs. Thankfully, the fine ...
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For a year or two in the mid-'80s, Lone Justice were the talk of Los Angeles, a band who played snappy Bakersfield-style country with a punk rocker's energy and passion, blessed with a lead singer whose voice could give Dolly Parton a run for her money. However, folks outside of California who had to judge the band based on their two studio albums -- 1985's Lone Justice and 1986's Shelter -- often wondered what the fuss was about, given the overcooked production and uncertain direction of their LPs. Thankfully, the fine reissue label Omnivore Recordings has helped give a clearer picture of what the band was about with two collections of demos that predated their major-label deal -- 2014's This Is Lone Justice: The Vaught Tapes, 1983 and 2019's The Western Tapes, 1983 -- that feature leaner and better-focused recordings of the group. Omnivore has continued its Lone Justice reclamation project with Live at the Palomino 1983, which preserves a show they played at Los Angeles' leading honky tonk in October 1983. (Their opening act that night was a promising newcomer named Dwight Yoakam.) This sounds like a soundboard tape, which for a club show means that the vocals are way out in front and the rest of the band is lurking somewhere behind them. But if the mix is not all one might hope for, the recording is clear enough, and the performance is one that was worth saving. Drummer Don Willens lacks a bit of the nuance Don Heffington would later bring to the Lone Justice rhythm section, but his backbeat is consistently in the pocket and he and bassist Marvin Etzioni keep this band confidently on track. Ryan Hedgecock's lead guitar is full of twangy fire without pointless showboating, and Maria McKee, only 19 years old on the evening in question, sounds like a force of nature, blessed with a remarkable voice and the courage to use it. If McKee occasionally overplays in this set, she's good enough to have earned the right to showboat a little, and Etzioni and Hedgecock's harmonies are spot-on. Like the two collections of demos that preceded it, Live at the Palomino 1983 captures a young, scrappy band brimming with talent and potential, and if they didn't fare well at the hands of the music industry, this album offers further evidence that it was never a matter of Lone Justice not having the goods. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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