Also this issue:

Mehta Physics
Meet the man who’s turning the Kimmel into a world-music hot spot.
-A.D. Amorosi

Blistered in the Sun
Unwrapping the Summer Tour Package.
-Jesse Delaney

The Kills
-Sam Adams

The Sick Lipstick
-Maura Johnston

4 Way Street
-Nicole Pensiero

Richard Thompson
-Sam Adams

Jamaican Dave's Birthday Bash
-Ainé Ardon-Doley

Tracy Chapman
-M.J. Fine

July 17-23, 2003

music

Matter of Import

The Brit in Big Sandy’s court.

by Mary Armstrong

No doubt about it, Big Sandy is the man to see for roots rock. Rockabilly, western swing, crooning in the doo wop East L.A. style, new songs that sound like they were written 50 years ago -- he's got all that. His newest CD, It's Time! (Yep Roc), is steadily picking up spins on the Americana radio chart. Whenever Big Sandy hits town, just look for the dancing crowd.

But he'll be the first to remind you all his talent wouldn't go anywhere without the Fly-Rite Boys. Ashley Kingman's electric guitar is critical. The man with several Opry appearances under his belt didn't even pick up a guitar until he was 16. But that's probably not the biggest unlikelihood in Kingman's dossier.

Kingman recalls taking a job in a music store, applying the skills he'd picked up on trombone and in choir. "One day this old homeless-looking fella came into the store. It was almost closing time. He asked me to let him try the most expensive classical guitar in the place. OK, I'll humor him, I thought."

Impressed with the man's finger-style playing, Kingman asked if the man could play anything Travis-style. "He thought that was baby stuff, but did show me." The man, it turned out, was an old colleague of Chet Atkins. Kingman's kindness bought him a live demonstration of the styles he'd been soaking up from recordings.

Not a particularly unusual story until you learn it all transpired on the south side of London. As English as the queen, Kingman never set foot on this soil till 1990. At that time he made a long trip across the country, ending up in L.A., where he first saw Big Sandy and his band playing. "I was knocked out! They were the best I'd ever heard!"

Kingman returned to the U.K. but kept up his friendship with the band. When their longtime lead guitarist left, they had to tour Europe relying on fill-ins. "They were thinking of breaking up, they couldn't find anybody who suited them," recalls Kingman. He made them an offer. It's 10 years now he's an Angeleno, no regrets. "I've really had to pull my socks up. Everybody in the band is so good it just makes you want to keep on improving."

Does he miss the U.K.? Nah. "There's no place I'd rather live!" He is such a convert he even swears the best dancers he sees at any Big Sandy show are in L.A. Let's give them some competition.

Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, Thu., July 17, 9 p.m., $13-$15, North By Northwest, 7165 Germantown Ave., 215-248-1000.