Cave Catt Sammy
Love Me Like Crazy (Rubric) It’s a tough job to fit into the confines of traditional rockabilly. The purists are a choosy lot, and ya gotta have just the right guitars, vintage clothes, cool car, and of course, the all-important buttery pompadour. (God help the bald guy who chooses to play rockabilly.) Cave Catt Sammy, four young bucks from San Antonio, play it well within the boundaries, and are still quite a bit better at the Johnny Burnette/Sun Records/ Louisiana Hayride groove than many of their contemporaries. Callow young Stephen Scott is a nimble, near-flamboyant guitarist with spot-on Fifties tone, singer Sammy Sample tearing it up with the best of ’em. The band’s strong suit, though, is the variety of styles they take on. “Brown Haired Girl” is a slick little jazzy number, while “Raining Honey” could nearly pass for Wayne Hancock. “You Made Your Bed” delivers a fair dose of raunch, and “Firewater” is a Link Wray-style instrumental with piano and gurgling sax. Nope, it’s not 1955 anymore, but this disc is infectious enough that even those who are jaded by retro trappings can still enjoy it. (Cave Catt Sammy plays Ego’s, Wednesday, June 12.) 
This article appears in June 7 • 2002.