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The Derailers's Bio:

In 2001, the Derailers released Here Come the Derailers as an instant success and recommended top choice album.

Full Western Dress is the 1999 release by the Derailers. Rolling Stone said, "the hot Derailers, from Austin, Texas, are among the impassioned young upstarts who have picked up the honkytonk torch, writing and performing in the style of their mighty forebears."

New Country is similarly impressed with this group: "The Derailers have assimilated their influences so well, they're now instinctively writing with the same ear for nuances as their idols, but in a style that's wholly their own and never kitschy. This is . . . a labor of love."

The Derailers are Tony Villanueva on vocals and guitar, who writes many of their songs, Brian Hofeldt on vocals and guitars, another songwriter, Mark Horn on drums and Ed Adkins on basses. Well, shucks, these hot young stars write and perform original music in the best country tradition.

"Watermelon records hit the jackpot with The Derailers." the headlines screamed on the 1996 release of Jackpot. (Read the Publicity Article.) The Austin American Stateman put it this way, "While most critics are busy looking back on the year for their 'best of' lists, Watermelon Records has given them a good reason to look forward: the Derailers." Styled as traditional with a "kick," the dancers flock to their packed performances at the Continental Club and the Broken Spoke.

Music critic Todd A. Gracyk listed Reverb Deluxe as one of his favorite albums of 1997.

For one of their Houston gigs, the Houston.Sidewalk wrote, "The Derailers are so damn good, it is tempting to call them the best band in Texas.-

Formed in 1993 by Villanueva and co-leader Brian Hofeldt, The Derailers began working out their musical vision in the bars and dance halls around Austin. Eventually the pair hooked up with the rhythms of Vic Gerard on bass. The three took off from there and are now a favorite Austin sound.

User: PaulSmith

The Derailers's Albums
Soldiers of Love

The Derailers Album Editorial:
With a twang and a jangle the Derailers conjure an era of vintage Top 40 when country soul rave-up rockabilly and catchy pop could all be heard on the same AM station. Though Buck Owens remains a seminal influence on the Derailers the departure of Tony Villaneuva--who founded and fronted the band with Brian Hofeldt--has pushed Hofeldts pop-rock instincts to the fore. He has recruited a crucial collaborator in producer Buzz Cason who shares songwriting credit on more than half the material here. The veteran Casons Soldier of Love title cut was an early 1960s hit for Arthur Alexander and was later covered by the Beatles on iLive at the BBC whose inspiration the Derailers channel here. The opening Cold Beer Hot Women and Cool Country Music and closing Its Never Too Late for a Party could have appeared on any Derailers album as could the Johnny Cash tribute An American Man and the instrumental Poppycock. But the balladry of The One Before Me the bittersweet Every Time It Rains and the falsetto- and harmony-laden Everything I Believe In find the band extending its range. While the variety of styles has Hofeldt sounding like a vocal chameleon the musical vitality suggests that the band has found new life. Don McLeese
Genuine

The Derailers Album Editorial:
Together nearly a decade this Austin quartet is renowned for fusing energy with a near-fanatical devotion to Buck Owenss classic Bakersfield sound. While that worthy model had on past albums resulted in a surfeit of slavishly imitative tunes IGenuine marks a decided move forward. Buck-isms are still abundant the continuing devotion reflected by their Tele-twang instrumental sound Tony Villanuevas and Brian Hofeldts vocals a Bucked-up version of Jim Lauderdales The Way to My Heart and a revival of the swirling Buckaroo instrumental The Happy-Go-Lucky Guitar. But with longtime Randy Travis producer Kyle Lehning in charge the band is beginning to reveal other facets clearly inspired by mid-60s rock--even Buck himself loved the early Beatles. The stylistic changes are most apparent on the pulsating original Scratch My Itch and on Whole Other World a quintessential lament of the lonely city-weary country boy. And closing with the acoustic bluegrass gospel of The Wheel is a positively inspired choice. Though Love Me Some Elvis is a banal tribute unworthy of their time the rest is near perfection. Rich Kienzle
Here Come the Derailers

The Derailers Album Editorial:
Vocalist Tony Villanueva and guitarist Brian Hofeldt hail from Oregon made their musical mark playing the Bakersfield sound in Austin and with IHere Come the Derailers set their sights on Nashville. Music City ace Kyle Lehning replaces roots-rock vet Dave Alvin in the producers chair yielding a sound with a little less spit and a little more polish than previous Derailers records. Fully half the discs dozen tracks are drawn from other pens including country hit-maker Kostass More of Your Love and three Jim Lauderdale cuts that dont quite meet his usual standard of excellence. The Derailers fare better when speaking for themselves--Bar Exam and There Goes the Bride are fun novelty numbers and Hofeldts I See My Baby is a satisfying excursion into classic pop--and even when they shut their mouths entirely as on the instrumental Country A Go-Go a dandy guitar duel. Anders Smith Lindall
Reverb Deluxe

The Derailers Album Editorial:
The Derailers problem: If you love a band that sounds as perfectly like Ray Price and Buck Owens as the Derailers do then why not buy some vintage Price and Owens instead? iReverb Deluxe occasionally confronts this problem by including a few more influences than on previous releases: California Angel is Gram Parsons-style country rock; two other songs suggest the Nashville Sound. But even on these cuts the Derailers are sowing a fairly narrow field--and with songwriting that doesnt live up to their heroes. So the problem remains. The concluding hidden track a Bakersfield-styled cover of Raspberry Beret is an entertaining novelty but no solution. David Cantwell
Full Western Dress

The Derailers Album Editorial:
The Derailers third studio record and finest yet IFull Western Dress pursues the groups Buck Owens fascination once again offering amazingly accurate imitations of the Buckaroos 1960s-era train sound. This time out they even duet with their hero on Play Me the Waltz of the Angels. The Derailers do dress up the retro act occasionally though it speaks volumes that they do it by including sounds that Buck himself incorporated in later years. Several cuts here have a Merseybeat-meets-Byrds jangle for example; a cover of Marty Robbinss Knee Deep in the Blues just flat cooks. Other modifications include a Dave Alvin-produced sound as pretty as it is muscular and some long-overdue Buck-worthy hooks. What still holds the Derailers back though is the same-old same-old: music thats sonically stunning but emotionally flat. The genuinely lonely-sounding Me Myself and I provides one welcome exception to this rule but mainly IFull Western Dress is just one more beautiful Nudie suit with nothing up its sleeve. David Cantwell
Jackpot

The Derailers Album Editorial:
The Derailers are proud to be stuck in the 50s. Their suits ties boots haircuts even their sound all slavishly imitate the honky-tonk fashions of 40 years ago. This theatrical time-capsule approach to music can be a lot of fun in a nightclub where your only competition is the bar band next door. It makes a lot less sense on a stereo where the visuals are limited to tiny photos on the CD booklet and the competition is the readily available albums of Webb Pierce and Lefty Frizzell. Unfortunately their songs would have been no better than album filler back in the era itself and their competent but unexciting voices wouldnt have turned any heads either. Geoffrey Himes
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