Rosie Flores & Ray Campi – A Little Bit of Heartache
The concept behind this disc seems simple enough: Pair Rosie Flores and Ray Campi for a set of honky-tonk duets. But, given all the unruly musical and geographical intersections of their two careers, its not surprising theres a whole lot more going on.
Campi (who was born in New York) headed to Austin in the mid-50s and recorded several classic rockabilly sides before moving to Los Angeles. Flores grew up in San Antonio and San Diego, gained a measure of fame as part of the 80s L.A. roots scene, and later relocated to Austin. So theres some Texas swing, a touch of conjunto and, of course, plenty of rockin rhythm.
The albums true touchstone, though, is the raucous California sound that grew from such diverse sources as the Maddox Brothers and Rose, the Collins Kids and Wanda Jackson. Flores and Campi cover four tunes by legendary guitarist Joe Maphis, including the crying Where Honky Tonk Angels Spread Their Wings, the winking Im Gonna Wear the Pants and the nostalgic Joe and Ole Merle.
Throughout, Campi pulls on his bass fiddle and Flores plays her guitar, cranking out some great speedy leads on Train Kept A- Rollin and Living on Love. And if covers of All I Have To Do Is Dream and Crazy are benignly redundant, Flores wistful Ban_dera Highway and Campis jaunty A Little Bit of Heartache are great additions to their respective catalogs as is this solidly entertaining recording.