Flanfire

The Dony and Tahni show is finally on the road - and soon to be on airwaves worldwide. Louisiana native (and world traveler during 25 years with the late Robert Palmer) Dony Wynn (who is also a regular columnist for Austin Daze!) has co-produced (with engineering by Boo MacLeod and vocals production by Bobby Thomas) a CD -- Sweet Spot -- with 12 very distinctive songs, all but two of which are originals penned by former metalhead (all-girl band Tantrum) guitarist Tahni Handal, whose prior Austin-made CD was quieter and more reflective than this collection of rock and roll, pop, and kitchen sink sound that has more hooks than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and more gimmickry than MacGyver.

For me, this CD works very very well indeed! Think back to the Sixties for inspiration for these tunes. But this is a CD all about the PASSION of a woman torn between the love of a man and the desire to fully live her own artistic life. And Tahni is waaaay out front with her zeal - making this an absolutely essential work for anyone with a feel for the passionate.Tahni and her latest collection of musicians will be playing at TC's Lounge on St. Paddy's Day and down in Luling for another wrestling show (details will soon be up on Tahni's website -- www.tahnitonehead.com ).

More gigs are surely in order - and we are still awaiting the formal CD release party (sometime well AFTER SXSW, to be sure). Longtime Tahni bassist and pal Vance Abeyta will be back on stage for upcoming shows - he's been in New Orleans and on the road a LOT with blues guitarist Bryan Lee. My old bud James Bruce shot the cover photos and was also involved in a video of "Messing Around."

Players assembled for this compilation include Chris Maresh on bass, Wynn himself on drums and percussion (well, why not!), Danny Bennett (Woody Russell, etc.) on lap steel, Ted Roddy on harp, David Perales on violin, Riley Osbourne on keyboards, and Larry Chaney and Billy Harvey joining Tahni on GUITAR. Backing vocals come from Wynn, Tina Allen, Colleen Schoonmaker, and Emme Lou Handal - she's the YOUNGER babe on the CD cover. Complicated productions, lots of unique instrumental sounds (just listen for them), and tons of harmony and deep background vocals -- this is hightone production that some may feel at times is even too much to comprehend -- but who cares? This music is all about the SONGS!

The BEST song on the CD is the first cut - Take a Look! This is pure R&B FUNK - complete with four "Oh yeahs" courtesy of Mister Wynn and a bunch of whispered background vocals craftily placed. This song, which showcases Tahni's own lead guitar, is about a "superman superhero supercharged dynamite electrical power" - Tahni herself, to be sure .... an ode to self-empowerment after being knocked around. If you aint dancin by the fourth chord, you aint got no soul! DO catch Emme Lou's subtle contributions here (and throughout the CD - she's the one who knows how to LAUGH!).

The BEST nonoriginal song on the CD is the second cut - the R&B classic "99 pounds," written by Memphis soulman Donald Bryant for his eventual spouse Ann Peebles back around 1970 (look hard for the originals on Hi Records). The screaming lap steel of Danny Bennett and the driving beat make this a MUST-PLAY for the airwaves. If you did not know the history of the song, you would swear Tahni wrote it herself about herself. The third cut, Tahni's version of the Cream classic "Strange Brew," which features Perales' witchy fiddle and some cool keyboard work (Riley O), is a definite crowd pleaser at live shows (and shows her psychedelic roots).

"Don't Mess Around" could be a huge hit or even a miss, depending on how you hear the song. Dony says he went for the ragged PO'ed sound from a woman who is just plain tired of being messed with by a man who lacks faith in the relationship .... Intro and outro guitar here is Larry Chaney, while Billy Harvey provides what Dony calls the "stilted rhythm work" -- there is a lot of keyboard here, too .. and the lyrics are knockdown dragout -- this is also the first of many cuts that showcase just what a marvelous percussionist Dony is.

The BEST rockin' blues song on the CD (whoa, I've said that before!) may just be "Walk the Line (with me)" -- which opens with some VERY funky guitar and harmonica by Ted Roddy mixed in around the keyboard. "I've got things to do, places to go and things to be -- and all I'm asking darling is for you to walk the line with me." [How many Austin women (or other women, or men?) have this same lament?] That's Tahni's motto -- get on board or get off the train .. I cannot wait around forever to live my life. One solid listen and you KNOW she means bizness - she IS going places with her life and music. Catch the harmony vocals at the end of the song -- and snap your fingers to the beat! This is just pure energy.

But then there is "Wish Me Well," which just might be the best ballad on the record -- "Take my hand, and walk with me ... take my heart, don't kiss and tell, Take my love and wish me well." What an anthem to love as nurturing one another ... Maresh has a little acoustic bass here right in the middle of the song ... to give us pause to think about our answer. This song has the feeling of a Moody Blues orchestral number.

"Mister, do you have a dime? Can I call my baby, get him on the line? Did I go too far this time?" That's the opener to "Redemption Day," where Tahni asks God (but WHICH God?, she wonders) if she has crossed the line ... and hopes for her redemption for her crimes of the heart. This is a woman who has been to some very dark places who is emerging in her healing to seek out the light and is not quite sure it will all work out all right. Right in the middle of this song is another moment of reflection and quiet desperate prayer ... "Have I been blind?" Dony captures the mood of this song with the wistful violin and some "strange" sounds emanating from Riley's keyboards.

The tables are turned on the next song, when Tahni asks one of her so-called counselors "Do YOU Believe (in anything)?" This could be a Shawn Colvin number (think "Sunny Came Home"), but with her own twist -- "feed a soul and have a revelation." This song just WAILS! And then comes the "rain" that introduces the very quiet, Beatlesque "I Still Love You" (like I loved you yesterday, more today). Maresh's bass line here is so polished, and Dony's drums are so precise that you feel the soul within the artist finding a place of calm joy.

OKAY - so she's at peace and in love. HUH! The all-out stomping "Got to Get Over You" is her other side coming to the front -- "I've stood on my head for you, been down on my knees. I've done everything to make you happy... I work all day, come home at night, I work so hard to make things right ... There was a time when I was so young and free, but now this love is killing me." Dony says he COULD have recorded this song as a straight 12-bar blues but he took a risk to take the song way out of its "comfort zone" to give it an extra freshness and vitality." The guys have to LOVE playing this cut. [That's Emme Lou's laughter that opens the cut.]

The next cut, "Eyes Wide Open," is by far the BEST of the BEST on this record --- with Chaney's "dense, scary wide guitar" and "Pink Floyd whaleish noises" from Harvey. But this song has the whole message of Tahni's philosophy ... "Life just seems to happen, there are no guarantees.. Just keep your light on and your eyes wide open... we've been changing, we've come so far .. cherish all your memories, cherish all that you can be." And, too, "It's not always easy to be forgiving, not always easy to be kind, but if we embrace each other we make the best of times." The effect of the song and the guitar work is just gorgeous!

Finally, the record ends with Tahni solo on acoustic guitar and a song about just looking at her little girl is so reassuring -- that "God Is Watching (over me)." "Something to believe in, as we step into the night... as we step into the light ... " Somehow, we, too, know that the end of this saga of tortuous passion, loss and gain, trust and confusion, will end up all right....

Even though Dony closes the CD with what sounds like a spaceship taking off while a dog is barking in protest. There is after all that part of this south Louisiana kid who in his tender teens walked into the weird wacky world that Little Richard helped create and found his rest and relaxation halfway around the world in Malaysia (from which he gets his trademark attire).