# CD review: Too Slim and the Taildraggers – Brace Yourself 2022: Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2022/12/15/cd-review-too-slim-and-the-taildraggers-brace-yourself-2022-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2022-12-15T00:04:21+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**When speaking to Tim “Too Slim“ Langford, the unabashed blues rocking front man
of Too Slim and the Taildraggers, he’s quick to point out that _Brace Yourself_ (
out via VizzTone) is “like number six” of live albums the trio has released in their
ongoing career. That’s not counting their 15 studio albums (6 of which hit the _Billboard_
Top 10 Blues Chart) and two compilation albums.**

The originally Pacific Northwest based group is currently made up of Langford on
guitar/vocals, Zach Kasik on bass/vocals and Jeff “Shakey” Fowlkes on drums/vocals.
Their high energy blues rock has been thrilling audiences for years. The band’s 
ever evolving musical direction cannot easily be classified into any box or category,
and that is very apparent on _Brace Yourself_. Recorded at Ohme Gardens in Wenatchee,
Washington, classic rock, blues rock and Americana influences are all showcased 
throughout the performance.

The Taildraggers don’t tour quite as much as they did 30 years ago, when they would
hammer out 200 shows a year or more, but when they get on stage, either in a club
or at a festival, the audience knows they’re there.

When we’re out there on the road, I try to book up every single day if I can. We
try to plan it smart so we don’t end up owing money when we go back home. Maybe 
some younger guys still go out and to that, but I don’t want to (laughs). Don’t 
get me wrong, I love going out there and doing it, but you have to be smart about
it.

In the early days, I was based out Northwest, so getting to the East coast and going
down like South and Southeast was difficult to do more than once a year or something
like that. But now band is closer to those areas. One guy lives in Nashville and
one guy lives in Muscle Shoals and I live in Idaho. We’re just winding up for the
year really. We have the Craft Beer and Blues Festival in Florida in November and
that’s it.

I’d really like to maybe try to knock out a new studio album early next year. We’ll
see. Our last studio album kit was The Remedy. It came out in 2020 during the middle
of the pandemic, which really kind of sucked. I wish actually I would have sat on
it, and released it in 2021.

For the most part, _Brace Yourself_ lives up to its title. Songs like “Cowboy Boot,”“
Mississippi Moon,” and “Devil in a Doublewide,” are foot stompin’, ass kickin’ original
rock-n-roll classics. “Blood Moon,” has a taste of the late, great Jimi Hendrix 
running through its veins, while “Twisted Rails,” conjures up images of Robin Trower.“
When Whiskey Was My Friend,” has a definite early ZZ Top vibe and “Good Guys Win,”
is a Reverend Horton Heat meets Chuck Berry jam.

With most of the songs being six minutes or longer in the live forms, it begs the
question how a band that’s been cranking out these high energy shows since the ’
80s are able to keep that energy level up.

Staying in shape. Not drinking and taking drugs (laughs). But yeah, I don’t know.
I’ve always thought my attitude towards the show is, every single day you go in 
and try to play like, the best show you’ve ever played. Because if you slack off,
it’s gonna be that time when, you know, there’ll be a time when somebody goes, ‘
Yeah, I saw that guy. He sucked.’ I mean, it’s like you can’t afford to just go 
in and take it for granted, playing kind of a half assed show or low energy show.
I just want to bring it to ’em. I mean, it’s a little hard to do when you’re older
you know, but I still try to do it.

Have we mentioned that Too Slim and the Taildraggers are a primarily blues rock 
band? Of course we did, but what got them into that genre in the first place?

Well, it was when I first started playing guitar. I mean, I was into music, so as
a kid my first album was a Beatles album. I started to get more and more into music
like Paul Revere and the Raiders, Cream, Jimi Hendrix and The Doors and bands of
the late 60s were my favorite bands. And then had my older cousin, who was a musician.
So that was the plan. I finally ended up going to a ZZ Top concert like 73 or something
like that. I was probably 12 or 13 or whatever it was. Anyway, that just blew my
mind. My friend down the street had a guitar and he loaned it to me. It was just
a piece of shit Harmony acoustic guitar, but I was determined to learn how to play
and so then I mowed lawns and stuff and saved up for a cheap Japanese electric guitar.
And I was just one of those people like, I’d come home from school and practice 
my guitar and fall asleep with it in my lap.

When I first started playing, I was really drawn to bands like, like Creedence Clearwater
and Neil Young and Crazy Horse and Lynyrd Skynyrd and stuff like Marshall Tucker
Band. My best friend. I talked him into playing bass, so we had a little band and
we’d jam it in his place with his older brother who had this huge record collection.
So he easily turned us on to it and goes ‘okay, if you’re gonna do this, you gotta
listen to this stuff. We had BB King records and Allman Brothers. You know, Elmore
James and stuff like that. It’s really cool stuff course. We thought man you know,
nobody’s playing that stuff. You know? This is the coolest stuff ever! I just started
buying every blues album I could find. BB King records, Freddie King, Otis Rush,
stuff that.

My guitar teachers were awesome. They were jazz players. So I also got into guys
like Wes Montgomery. I like to listen to anything because I played in the high school
jazz band too and ended up playing in the Spokane Jazz Orchestra. But I just really
wanted to just play rock and roll blues. I played in a country band because there
was an ad in the paper for a lead guitar player and a bass player. So me and my 
buddy went and auditioned for that. We were like, 18, 19 at the time. They hired
us to play in this country band for a couple of years. It was a lot of fun as they
were older guys, you know. But then I was going to college and played with the jazz
band at the college. This bass player, he goes ‘You like blues, right?’ I’m like,‘
Yeah.’ ‘You gotta go see this band.’ This band was playing a club called Washboard
Willie’s in Spokane. I went down there and it was the Robert Cray band. I was like,
oh my god, you guys are the shit. And that was it for me, man. I want to start a
blues band.

A while later I was digging in a record collection at one of our local records stores,
and I found Stevie Ray’s _Texas Flood_ album. That was another epiphany moment because
that’s such a bad ass record. It really started a blues insurgence too. Then there’s
bands like Little Charlie & the Nightcats, Anson Funderburgh, Ronnie Earl. I was
really influenced by all those guys.

If you haven’t had the privilege of seeing Too Slim and the Taildraggers in person,
get yourself to the nearest show when you can. If you have, but don’t make it out
too much these days, grab a copy of _Brace Yourself_, and relive those glorious 
live show moments. They’ll rock your socks, and then some.

I love the fact that the album is from one single show. I feel it was a great representation
of what the band really sounds like live. It’s hard to capture that energy in the
studio sometimes. The audience can sometimes give you extra inspiration to excel
beyond your normal capabilities. There were many other songs from that show that
we couldn’t fit on one CD. It’s hard to pick and choose what to leave out. I turned
it over to my Bass Player Zach Kasik to mix and master the album and he did a fantastic
job. I guess I’m working on a direction to go with a new studio recording, writing
songs trying to keep things fresh. The musicians who play on the album were the 
guys in my band. I met them both in Nashville TN. I always try and record with the
musicians in the band unless it’s an instrument we want to add that none of us are
particularly not skilled at, – an interview with me said **Tim “Too Slim“ Langford.**

[**New CD – 2022 – Buy from here**](https://www.tooslim.net/product-page/brace-yourself)

![Brace Yourself](https://i0.wp.com/static.wixstatic.com/media/59ce73_2f90b479a9244106bdd58c55c1b8df09
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