Richie and the Rocketdogs | Manic Heart

Published: January 1, 2009

Prolific Missoula musician Richie Reinholdt has created a style over his past few CDs that time-warps to the late 50s and early 60s – an era of great love songs and harmony singing, replete with the cool garage-band sound of loud, snappin’ drums, thumpin’ bass, and low-slung electric guitar licks.

The talented ensemble brought together for this recording project are: Ted Lowe, acoustic guitar and vocals; Bruce Threlkeld, drums; Mike Freemole, bass; Reinholdt on guitars and vocals; and honorary Rocketdog Larry Chung on ubiquitous pedal steel.

Though the band is no longer, this short incarnation brought substance to Reinholdt’s song poems, a mix of star-struck love songs and clever put-downs, all set to a danceable beat. “Tabloid Queen” has a Buddy-Holly nuance, and “Betty Lou” is Reinholdt’s remembrance of the quarterback and high-school prom queen scenario.

“This Bottle” is a honky-tonker, a drinkin’ song about a fellow celebrating each wedding anniversary solo, crying in his favorite libation.

The sad beltbuckle-shiner “Movin’ On” talks of a single father trying to raise his daughter alone; and “People Like Us” takes a comic look at those holier-than-thou folks in the “Better People’s Association.”

The recording is packed with layers of pedal-steel guitar and oh-so-low electric guitar notes in the intros and leads, keeping the country-rockabilly mesh authentic and dance-worthy. Reinholdt delivers the mournful croon through and through, coupled with his usual attentiveness to overall production values.

Visit www.myspace.com/richieandtherocketdogs.

– Mariss McTucker