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Ian is the son of British country singer Alfie Calvert,
who performed between the 40's & 90's as Cal Ford and
the Brakemen. Growing up, Ian would to listen to his dad
singing the likes of Jimmy Rodgers, Hank Williams and Johnny
Cash. Ian now performs with his own band The Railmen and
also as The Brakemen, offering early rockabilly numbers
from his musical hero the legendary great, Johnny Cash.
Joined by ace picker "Luther" Cummins on guitar
and Marshal Stack on upright bass, Ian Calford and The Brakemen
ideally re-create the distinctive chicka-boom sound of Johnny
Cash and the Tennessee Two, suitably taking us back to the
time when country music was full of life and soul. Opening
with "When Papa Played The Dobro",
Ian's strong vocals transports us instantly back in time.
Jimmy Rodgers' "Brakeman's Blues"
is followed by Cash's "Hey Porter"
and "Folsom Prison Blues".
In all we find 10 of Cash's compositions interspersed with
Jimmy Skinner's, "Doin' My Time",
Tex Ritter's bluesy "Boss Jack"
and Roy Hogshed's "Transfusion
Blues".
Ian Calford offers his own adaptation of the traditional
"Frankie's Man Johnny",
eagerly followed by Cash's tribute to his own great guitarist
and friend Luther Perkins, with "Luther
Played The Boogie". Singing passionately and
with conviction, Calford and his sidemen rip it up with
one of the best of Johnny Cash's earliest numbers "Get
Rhythm", before taking us on a musical journey
aboard the "Blue Train",
to get in a little "Pickin' Time"
for "Saturday Night At Hickman
County".
Just sensational, Strapped For
Cash makes an ideal
tribute to the two men who have greatly influenced Ian's
own musical career; Johnny Cash and Ian's own father Cal
Ford, known throughout the UK as the Welsh Johnny Cash.
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