Billy Bacon and the Forbidden Pigs

Pig Latin (Triple X)
by Jon Sarre

So I hear that rock’n’roll bands from Central and South America are breakin’ into this Anglo-only preserve that we’ve got here. Good thing for us racist rockists, right? What a buncha horseshit! Jesus Christ, all ya gotta do is look back thru’ the dog-eared pages of the rockin’ songbook, anybody remember the Sir Douglas Quintet? Sam the Sham and the Pharohs? ? and the Mysterians? Syndicate of Sound? Rock’n’roll’s got en espagnol roots (TexMex, it’s called, but sometimes just plain ole Mex) from all the way back when, Richie Valens? Whatabout the Texas Tornados (which featured the late Doug Sahm of Sir Douglas fame and Freddy Fender)? The Zeros? Shit, Los Lobos? How ’bout the Dragons? Hell, the official history’s so fuckin’ stupid, they’d like to have ya forget that real American rock’n’roll is so much more inclusive than their “whitey stole from blackie” bullshit!

Ya best believe Billy Bacon knows the score there. The guy may not be Mex, but he sure as hell is TexMex and this comp of his stuff since the mid-’80s is built up on all that stuff that came before (with covers of Sam the Sham and Doug Sahm with nod to both the Champs – “Tequila” – and barrio music in general) all done in that quintessential Texas mix of country, Western swing, mariachi, R&B (cuz if ya couldn’t dance to it, the bands were fair targets of patrons’ hurled bottles) and polka (yeah, polka). It’s unique music, to be sure, and Bacon’s one of the few practitioners of it who gets outta Texas with some frequency. See him, if ya get the chance, failin’ that, this disc is a start. Protect yer cultural heritage!
(PO Box 862529 Los Angeles, CA 90086)