Biography of Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys

Clad in vintage stage attire and travelling the country in a 1949 Flexible tour bus, Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys were a latter-day update of the Western Swing sound popularized by the likes of Bob Wills and Spade Cooley. A five-piece combo which conjured the spirit of postwar country music for appreciative pre-millennium audiences, the Anaheim, California group was the brainchild of Robert Williams, also known as vocalist/guitarist/frontman Big Sandy and the leader of the band in its earlier incarnation as Big Sandy & the Fly-Rite Trio. Initially, they were a rockabilly unit in the tradition of Gene Vincent and His Bluecaps, but a line-up change that saw the core of Williams and bassist Wally Hersom joined by steel guitarist Lee Jeffries, guitar player Ashley Kingman and drummer Bobby Trimble brought about not only an altered name but also a new, hillbilly bop-flavored sound.Produced by the group's mentor, ex-Blaster Dave Alvin, Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys' 1994 debut Jumping From 6 to 6 straddled the line between rockabilly and swing; while cuts like "Hi-billy Music" and "Who, Tell Me Who?" stood as straightforward rave-ups, a cover of Hank Williams' "Weary Blues From Waitin'" pointed in the direction of the Fly-Rites' immediate future. The title alone of 1995's Swingin' West was indicative of the quintet's shift towards a more purist sensibility, recalling Hank Thompson, Lefty Frizzell and Faron Young in both attitude and execution; the superb Feelin' Kinda Lucky followed in 1997, and in 1998 Big Sandy cut a solo covers album, Dedicated to You, leaving his band to record their own solo instrumental project, Big Sandy Presents His Fly-Rite Boys. The full line-up reconvened the following year for the EP Radio Favorites. ~ Jason Ankeny