1972 Elektra
US pressing
gatefold sleeve
cut out
vg/vg
"
Don Nix had deep Southern soul and blues roots, getting his start playing with
Steve Cropper and
Donald Duck Dunn in
the Mar-Keys. These roots aren't as evident on his 1972 project Alabama State Troupers as his association with
Leon Russell, whose pioneering work can be heard all over Road Show, the double-LP that captures the wild revue
Nix took across America in 1972. Cut firmly from the same cloth that
Russell provided for
Joe Cocker's
Mad Dogs & Englishmen revue, along with the similar
Delaney & Bonnie band, the Alabama State Troupers is a careening rock & roll outfit that touches upon soul, country, gospel, and, in its occasional frontman
Furry Lewis, blues.
Lewis stepped into an absence left by
Lonnie Mack, a superficially more suitable match for
Nix, co-vocalist
Jeanie Greene, and the
Mt. Zion Band & Choir, but
Lewis gives this an unexpected sense of community and heritage, emphasizing how the Alabama State Troupers stretch back far. That said, Road Show is very much an album of its time. Specifically, it is part of the
Leon Russell axis, sounding like a kissing cousin to
Delaney & Bonnie due to
Nix's traded vocals with
Greene, but its attitude is slightly closer to
Mad Dogs & Englishmen, often feeling so overstuffed that it is about to burst.
Nix isn't a vocalist of
Cocker's stature, nor is
Greene close to
Bonnie Bramlett, which makes the wildcard of
Lewis all the more compelling; he gives them gravity but also a bit of mischief. Nevertheless, the star in Alabama State Troupers isn't who is on the mike but rather the group itself, a collective that plays the kind of rambling, raucous American music that was briefly in vogue in the early '70s. Few have picked up this thread since, but that may be why it still sounds vital: it's teeming with passion, conviction and ideas that are still potent years after the music has receded into history." (Allmusic. 4 stars)
