Review: Monte Warden and the Dangerous Few, Jackpot!
Austin staple forges a connection between classic country and the Great American Songbook
Reviewed by Michael Toland, Fri., May 24, 2024
Monte Warden has been a staple of the Austin music scene since leading his band Whoa, Trigger! when he was a teenager in the Eighties. And for good reason: Nearly 40 years of craft and heart have made him a tunesmith and vocalist of rare distinction. After decades of work in country music, Warden forged a connection between classic country and the Great American Songbook, and formed the Dangerous Few with loyal sidekick Brent Wilson on bass and trumpeter/arranger Erik Telford to exploit it. The group’s second album after a long-running residency at Parker Jazz Club (to which the album is dedicated), Jackpot!’s high-energy tunes like “Silhouette” and “Waxahachie Hoochie Coo” contain enough joyous swing to fit under the rockabilly or big-band umbrellas, and “Lovesong Every Day” falls from a pop tradition more Sixties than Forties. But it’s always the ballads that stand supreme in this milieu; thus, “It Was but a Small Affair,” “Outside Looking In,” and a soulful take on “Desperately,” a Warden-penned hit for George Strait from 2004, that show the songwriter’s affinity for the old school. Frankly, Jackpot! doesn’t so much prove that Warden can match Cole Porter as it does that he can do anything.
Monte Warden and the Dangerous Few
Jackpot! (Break a Leg Records)
