Brian Setzer has been something of a musical enigma over his 30 year career in pop music. He first hit as a rockabilly guitar hero with Stray Cats, followed by time with Robert Plant’s Honeydrippers, and eventually his own swing/jump ensemble, The Brian Setzer Orchestra which formed in the mid-1990s.
Setzer never abandoned his interest in rockabilly music, and it is in this vein that his upcoming album, Setzer Goes Instru-MENTAL!, includes tributes to bluegrass pioneers Bill Monroe and Earl Scruggs. There is a guitar reworking of Blue Moon Of Kentucky, surely the most covered of Monroe’s many classic compositions, and Brian straps on the five string for a decidedly non-Scruggsy version of Earl’s Breakdown.
The CD is due on April 19 from Surfdog Records. You can grab a listen to Earl’s Breakdown from Rolling Stone online.
