Tommy Lee Cook – Tommy Lee’s Jonesin’
Self-Released
12 Tracks – 52 minutes
Tommy Lee Cook was born in Danville, Virginia. He and his family moved to North Fort Myers, Florida in 1967. After a stint in the Air Force, he went to the University of Florida in Gainesville. He taught English for a while, but in 2002, he bought the Buckingham Blues Bar in Fort Myers. After some renovations, the bar has become a hotbed for blues performers passing through Florida. Tommy Lee and his band, The Buckingham Blues Band are regular Saturday night performers at the bar and are generally the opening act for the major players that show up.
Tommy Lee says he has been playing music ever since The Beatles first invaded the US. His early bands followed the music trends of the day, but he quickly adjusted to playing Chicago styled electric blues. He admits that he has a particular passion for Albert Collins, but also enjoys Delbert McClinton and the southern rock of The Allman Brothers. Tommy Lee Cook plays and does the lead vocals on all cuts. The Buckingham Blues Band consists of Rex Bongo on guitar and backing vocals, Harry Cassano on keyboards and backing vocals, Scott Kamener on guitar, Arne England on slide guitar, Tbone Fonk on drums and backing vocals, and Andrei Koribanics on drums. The album also features special guests Bobby Capps on piano, Rick Rourke on sax, and Justin Richey on slide guitar. There is no information provided on the album cover as to which musicians are playing on each track. Ten tracks are original songs either written by Tommy Lee or co-written by him with other members of the band. In addition, there are two covers included.
The album opens with “Birds and Bees”, a tale of Etta James’ climb to fame. “Gimme My Money Mista” is a spoken word story with a swampy dobro floating in the background. It immediately shifts into the first cover, “Turpentine” written and originally recorded by Willie Mae Brown but here follows a version performed by JJ Grey.
“Let It Rain” starts a run of three slow blues numbers. Again, this song starts with a spoken line, but moves into a smooth vocal and later some bluesy sax as he notes “she is gone…let your tears testify to the pain”. On “Souleater”, he says the demon will be “gnawing right down to the bone…and run away with your self-control”. “Satisfied” speaks of “a cool sunny morning with you lying close to my side”. “Lord I can’t be denied, I must be satisfied.”
Jonesin’ is defined as a moment of relaxation or even intense laziness. The title track notes “he has a new squeeze, she’s all that sexy cool breeze.” “She has Tommy Lee Jonesin’…she is sweeter than sugar” with a quiet piano run supporting a funky guitar. “Funky Shoes” again includes a bouncy piano as he says, “Bobby has a new friend, sunshine never ends”. He wants to “be with my baby, feel her real close” on “Dancing with My Baby”.
“Consequences” feels like a country song as he “thinks about all the good girls that slipped away”. “Running on the wild times and cheating on the high times and those consequences just get in the way”. He advises he is a “Working Musician”, “a handy man, a southern comfort to a woman with a plan, a couple of steps ahead of the man, a two-legged mule kicking in the stall, working all day and earning mostly nothing at all”. The final cover is adapted from a song by the bluegrass jam band Cross Canadian Ragweed called “Boys from Oklahoma”. Here it is titled “The Boys from Buckingham” as they identify where they find the best weed, noting that “the boys in Oklahoma roll their joints all wrong, way damn skinny and way too long” while Tommy “rolls his joints about the size of his thumb”. He concludes that “Somebody needs to legalize that shit.”
This is a constantly laid-back album. Tommy Lee’s vocals sometimes borders on a monotone, but there are brief glimpses of a tonal quality that reminds of Dr. John in his quieter moments, and I found myself pondering will he ever let loose. The musicians clearly are excellent, but again the subdued nature of the songs just does not allow for much exposition. I would say that Tommy Lee is likely fun to see in person, but this recording is probably more of an acquired taste.
