Best of Tucson 1996: Best Local Band--Country

Best Local Band--Country

Al Perry and the Cattle

READERS' AND STAFF PICK: The sound of Al Perry's protean guitar has woven through the collective dreams of Tucsonans for nearly 16 years now, providing an essential soundtrack to the childhood, adolescence, and maturity of the local music scene. His recorded legacy is beyond compare: the frenetic rockabilly mayhem of The Hecklers' tapes, the incomparable Cattle Crossing LP, the 45s, the Addled Records catalogue, the collaborations with Dan Stuart and other artists...the list goes on and on. Perry has always had a preternatural ability to absorb the most essential aspects of any genre of music--from Delta blues to '70s rock excess--distill it through his own fractured consciousness, and reflect it back in a mutated, highly entertaining fashion. At the moment his muse expresses itself in the form of country music; the result is the superlative Losin' Hand, a CD of mournful heartache that's infinitely superior to anything you'll hear on contemporary country stations. The music, which hearkens back to George Jones, Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams, is both as lonesome and exhilarating as the endless Arizona sky.

READERS' POLL RUNNER-UP: The Saddle Tramps