The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Gordon brings his rockabilly boogie back
NEW HAVEN — Get ready to rock: Robert Gordon is playing at Cafe Nine today.
Showtime is 8:30 p.m. Canadian grease-rocker Bloodshot Bill opens. Tickets are $25 — and you shouldn’t count on being able to get them at the door. Advance tickets for the show, presented by Go Cat Go! and Cafe Nine, are available at cafenine.com.
Gordon’s band will feature Chris Spedding, with whom Gordon has worked on and off for years, on guitar,
Anton Fig — former drummer for David Letterman’s house band — and Rob Stoner, onetime bass player for Bob Dylan during the Rolling Thunder Review days.
Raised in Bethesda, Maryland, Gordon, now 71, first got noticed as a punk rocker, recording a couple of cuts on the “Live At CBGB’s” album as a member of New York City’s seminal Tuff Darts back in 1976.
He quickly re-emerged as a rockabilly singer — or
neo-rockabilly singer, if you prefer — however, cutting some classic tracks with the late guitar god Link Wray on his first two albums, “Robert Gordon with Link Wray” in 1977 and “Fresh Fish Special” in 1978.
Always inspired by Elvis Presley, Gordon had an early triumph when he was signed to Elvis’ label, RCA. Other major influences included Gene Vincent, Jack Scott, Billy Lee Riley and Eddie Cochran.
Gordon has appeared on TV shows around the world, and his music has been used in a number of movie soundtracks, including Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers” and “The Loveless,” in which Gordon had a co-starring role with William Dafoe.
Among Gordon’s classic cuts are his interpretation of the Bruce Springsteen song “Fire” — which includes Springsteen playing keyboards on the track “Red Hot,” “The Way I Walk,” “Rockabilly Boogie” and “Someday, Someway.”