Larry Reddington isn’t a new kid on the block. Not by any means. At age of 67 (68 in July) he’s been spicing up people’s lives musically since the 1950’s. From Oxford, England and originally a drummer, Larry has some pretty interesting rock n roll stories to tell …
Larry Reddington isn’t a new kid on the block. Not by any means. At age of 67 (68 in July) he’s been spicing up people’s lives musically since the 1950’s. From Oxford, England and originally a drummer, Larry has some pretty interesting rock n roll stories to tell, and often does if you visit him in his guitar shop (The Music Box).
When I asked him who influenced him to start playing he said, “No one really. Basically I couldn’t write songs on the drums so I decided to learn the guitar and I suppose working in a guitar shop is a good place to practice.”
Download track: “When You Gonna Learn” MP3
Last year Mr. Reddington travelled to America and went to Nashville. He was taken by the place. That country bug had bit him hard, and not too long after, he returned once more to the home of everything country. This time he recorded a CD – ‘When You Gonna Learn?’ – to take with him. While there, he visited the Elvis house in Memphis – which he was not impressed by. He only wanted to see the toilet that killed the king. But it wasn’t on the tour.
While in Nashville Larry got to play a couple of gigs. He played one night at The Full Moon Saloon and the second at The Nashville Palace. He also flogged a few CDs too. So not a bad outing after all.
‘When You Gonna Learn?’ is a 3 track EP and starts off with the title song, which when you think about it, Larry only started to dabble with guitar and vocals 5 years ago, and he sounds as good as any cowboy from Texas with or without a horse. Larry doesn’t need a stallion when he has the Cowley Flyer bus to take him home in an evening, but I digress. “When You Gonna Learn” has some brilliant lap steel guitar courtesy of Simon Tuke, who also plays bass on the EP. Coming out of retirement for Larry, is one Dave Herbert who performs lead guitar duties on the first track. Why would you retire when you can get the guitar to sound like that? And following up the rear on banjo and dobro is an ex band mate of mine Mr. Stefan D Hamilton.
Larry says he will be recording more tracks soon to turn the EP into an LP. But before that he is drumming with a reformation of a band called Steam who were originally around in the 1970’s. They will be playing at The Regal on Cowley Road, Oxford, Saturday 30th May 2009. Now that is well worth checking out. Go see Larry Reddington and his friends and tell them Dave Tommo sent you!
This is a CD that should be in the collection of any avid country fan.
By: Dave Tommo
