TED HEFKO AND THE THOUSANDAIRES
GAS STATION GURU ON 1006
ONAGER ONAGER RECORDS 1006
TWO VICES–THE ROOFER–TELL ME THE TRUTH–RIDE ME DOWN EASY–THE NEXT TRAIN–AIN’T GONNA GIVE YOU NONE OF MY JELLYROLL–TEN DOLLAR HAT–STOP SAYIN’ UNLESS–CITY OF NEW ORLEANS
Ted Hefko was born in Madison, WI, but, immediately upon graduation, grabbed up his guitar and hopped a ‘Hound right on down to New Orleans to pursue his musical dreams. He studied modern jazz at the University of New Orleans, with sax as his go-to instrument. He was an in-demand club and session player, touring and gigging with the likes of The Funky Meters and North Mississippi All-Stars. He moved to NYC in 2003, and his NOLA background served him well there, leading combos that drew on the sounds of The Big Easy. He’s returned “home again,” to New Orleans, and has released his latest set at Marigny Studios with his band, The Thousandaires, entitled “Gas Station Guru.”
On this set, Ted is featured on vocal, sax, clarinet, and acoustic guitar. The songs explore characters who continually struggle just to keep going, to keep it between the ditches, and figure out wrong from right. Check out the Basin Street bounce of “I Ain’t Gonna Give You None Of My Jelly Roll,” then shift gears to take a ride along with those “three conductors and 24 sacks of mail” on “The City Of New Orleans.” His somewhat-flawed characters take center stage, including the rounder who “left a long string of satisfied women behind,” on Billy Joe Shaver’s “Ride Me Down Easy.” Sherman Bernard is on piano on the Mardi Gras flavor of that “big leg woman” with that “Ten Dollar Hat!” Mem Shannon adds guitar to the sage advice given by Ted to a lover—“you got Two Vices–make the second one me!”
Ted Hefko And The Thousandaires bring the sweet-tea taste of the Big Easy to this collection, meant for all us rodeo bums and son of a guns to find the “Gas Station Guru” that lives deep down in all of us! Until next time…Sheryl and Don Crow, The Nashville Blues Society.
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