Creole String Beans: Shrimp Boots & Vintage Suits

Somewhere, Ernie K-Doe is smiling.

On Shrimp Boots &Vintage Suits, the Creole String Beans uncork a letter-perfect recreation of "Here Come the Girls," a sexy, Allen Toussaint-penned K-Doe strut. Elsewhere, the group aces the swamp pop chestnut "Shirley," Lloyd Price's "Just Because" and Fats Domino's "Be My Guest." But the Creole String Beans is more than a throwback south Louisiana cover band. More than half of "Shrimp Boots & Vintage Suits" consists of original material written in the classic style.

Keyboardist Brian Rini's "Sally Put a Spell on Me" and "Knock Me Down Again," with honking saxophone and ruminating piano, would not be out of place on a 9th Ward jukebox circa 1959. Guitarist/vocalist Rick Olivier celebrates a women's prison in "St. Gabriel" and Morgus the Magnificent in the sci-fi '60s camp of "Instant People." Olivier also tells the story of swamp living on "Stand Out From The Crowd," where the interplay of saxophone brings the appropriate greasiness to the record. Juke joint piano emanates from "Eyes Like A Cat."

After a wistful "Louisiana Fairytale," the final, sing-along title track comes across like a house party with a band that knows how to host one.

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