Fandangos

Each January, the Tex-Mex Fandango Blues Music Cruise, departs from Galveston and sails around the gulf with stops in Belize, Honduras and other ports of call. The house band is The Fandangos featuring the legendary Augie Meyers, T. Grozny Thornton and Jimmy Butler with backing by the longtime stalwart rhythm section of Speedy Sparks and Ernie Durawa. This disc was originally a keepsake for those on this year's cruise, but the demand mandated a commercial release. Grammy winning Augie, veteran of the Texas Tornados and the Sir Douglas Quintet, is joined by songwriter T. Grozney Thornton and guitar slinger Jimmy Butler with a musical gumbo of songs old and new---Augie's version of Gene Thomas' "Sometimes" is superb; TGT and Jimmy offer up some fine covers and each has some new originals. There's just something about the Texas music groove and these cats nail it on the head.