THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 21, 1996 TAG: 9601210045
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Music review
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
It looked like the South was about to rise again Friday - momentarily, anyway.
It was Jan. 19, Robert E. Lee's birthdate, an appropriate time for Confederate Railroad to chug to town, stopping at Hampton Coliseum with a train load of songs that included tributes to mama, daddy, Jesus and trash.
Also, there were tributes to Lynyrd Skynyrd, Waylon Jennings, Delbert McClinton and David Allen Coe.
For the most part, the Railroad stays on the fast track, Danny Shirley and his crew reveling in such rowdy, jamming favorites as ``Queen of Memphis'' and ``Trashy Women.''
Some critics trashed ``Trashy'' as tasteless. Lighten up. The tongue-in-cheek song was the audience favorite.
Confederate Railroad is a fun crew, but not fun and fancy. Lights, and that's it - not even smoke rising from the bowels of the Coliseum.
Shirley is usually on the move as he sings his hits, mostly uptempo but easing off with such beauties as ``Jesus and Mama,'' which netted the Atlantic recording group a Christian Music Award.
One of their mentors is the Lynyrd Skynyrd Band, the Railroad-ers having traveled with their fellow Southern rockers. A highlight of the Friday performance was ``Simple Man.'' The outstanding Skynyrd piece was a showcase for the powerful Shirley voice.
That voice also was used to very good advantage in a salute to David Allen Coe, their former boss. Confederate Railroad used to be the David Allen Coe Band, so a tribute was in order. It was an excellent version of ``You Don't Have To Call Me Darling, Darling.''
Other old but welcome hits included ``Daddy Never Was a Cadillac Man'' and ``She Never Cried,'' a remembrance of Shirley's ex-wife, who shed no tears when Old Yeller died, so ``do you think I'll cry when she's gone?''
Friday night's performance included - surprise, surprise - songs from the group's new album, ``When and Where,'' which includes a Delbert McClinton song, ``My Baby's Lovin' ,'' the audience lovin' the Railroad version.
Entertainment Weekly gave their third album an A-minus.
Give that mark to the opening act. Amie Comeaux is little - maybe about 5 feet tall - with a big future, if luck matches talent.
As you suspected from her name she is another Cajun contribution to country.
Just 18, Comeaux has a contract with Polydor and fronts her own band - an excellent group, particularly Curtis Coubello, the fiddler, who put string to bow behind his back, toward the side, and even upside down. Quite a showman.
Comeaux used her high, sweet voice to borrow from Loretta Lynn's ``You Ain't Woman Enough To Take My Man'' and from '50s pop singer Jo Stafford, offering ``You Belong To Me.''
Not unexpectedly, there was some good, wild Cajun material - such familiar pieces as ``Big Mamou'' ``Jambalaya'' and ``Cajun Moon.''
Comeaux was the evening's very pleasant surprise.
It looked like the South was about to rise again Friday - momentarily, anyway.
It was Jan. 19, Robert E. Lee's birthdate, an appropriate time for Confederate Railroad to chug to town, stopping at Hampton Coliseum with a train load of songs that included tributes to mama, daddy, Jesus and trash.
Also, there were tributes to Lynyrd Skynyrd, Waylon Jennings, Delbert McClinton and David Allen Coe.
For the most part, the Railroad stays on the fast track, Danny Shirley and his crew reveling in such rowdy, jamming favorites as ``Queen of Memphis'' and ``Trashy Women.''
Some critics trashed ``Trashy'' as tasteless. Lighten up. The tongue-in-cheek song was the audience favorite.
Confederate Railroad is a fun crew, but not fun and fancy. Lights, and that's it - not even smoke rising from the bowels of the Coliseum.
Shirley is usually on the move as he sings his hits, mostly uptempo but easing off with such beauties as ``Jesus and Mama,'' which netted the Atlantic recording group a Christian Music Award.
One of their mentors is the Lynyrd Skynyrd Band, the Railroad-ers having traveled with their fellow Southern rockers. A highlight of the Friday performance was ``Simple Man.'' The outstanding Skynyrd piece was a showcase for the powerful Shirley voice.
That voice also was used to very good advantage in a salute to David Allen Coe, their former boss. Confederate Railroad used to be the David Allen Coe Band, so a tribute was in order. It was an excellent version of ``You Don't Have To Call Me Darling, Darling.''
Other old but welcome hits included ``Daddy Never Was a Cadillac Man'' and ``She Never Cried,'' a remembrance of Shirley's ex-wife, who shed no tears when Old Yeller died, so ``do you think I'll cry when she's gone?''
Friday night's performance included - surprise, surprise - songs from the group's new album, ``When and Where,'' which includes a Delbert McClinton song, ``My Baby's Lovin' ,'' the audience lovin' the Railroad version.
Entertainment Weekly gave their third album an A-minus.
Give that mark to the opening act. Amie Comeaux is little - maybe about 5 feet tall - with a big future, if luck matches talent.
As you suspected from her name she is another Cajun contribution to country.
Just 18, Comeaux has a contract with Polydor and fronts her own band - an excellent group, particularly Curtis Coubello, the fiddler, who put string to bow behind his back, toward the side, and even upside down. Quite a showman.
Comeaux used her high, sweet voice to borrow from Loretta Lynn's ``You Ain't Woman Enough To Take My Man'' and from '50s pop singer Jo Stafford, offering ``You Belong To Me.''
Not unexpectedly, there was some good, wild Cajun material - such familiar pieces as ``Big Mamou'' ``Jambalaya'' and ``Cajun Moon.''
Comeaux was the evening's very pleasant surprise. by CNB