Quick. Without thinking, name your favorite septuagenarian plumber-cum-honky-tonk/rockabilly singer who just recently inked a deal with the almighty Bar/None Records. What’s that? Gene Turonis a.k.a. Gene D. Plumber? Correct! The pride of Hoboken’s All the Pretty Girls hits virtual and very real storefronts on 11 May and boasts originals such as “She Belongs to Someone”, “Diamonds As Big As Potatoes”, and the titular cut.
There’s also a range of carefully curated covers, including a lovely rendition of Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown’s “Going Back to Louisiana”, Steve Fromholtz’s brilliant “I’d Have to Be Crazy” and “I Always Get Lucky With You”, a tune that was a hit for George Jones in 1983. (Our favorite plumber/strummer offers up a bonus cut titled “George Jones, George Jones” which is everything you’d want and think it to be.)
It’s that title piece, though, that’ll serve as an introduction for many listeners, and it’s filled with all the stuff our beloved wrench-wielding crooner does so well. There’s a warmth in Turonis’ voice that calls to mind Ted Hawkins’ easy charms. Though there’s not much in timbre or tonality that unites them, the impact is the same. You feel as though you’ve just come home (or through the tavern door) to someone who understands your worries, your hopes and dreams and can capture them all in the space of a two-minute song.
What else, then?
How about a slightly askance sense of humor, one that calls to mind the gorgeous and, well, quirky love songs of NRBQ (“My Girlfriend’s Pretty”, “Magnet”), all delivered with a naked simplicity which demonstrates why Gene D. Plumber has been so deeply embraced by folks in his hometown.
Of “All The Pretty Girls” itself, the singer-songwriter says, “I made this the title song of my new album for two reasons. First, the song has a rather unusual musical structure inspired by the tune “Gold Finger”, and, second, the subject matter of the song is an interesting lens through which to view desirability in male/female interactions.”
Though one should remain forever cautious in their proclamations regarding an artist’s future, Gene D. Plumber seems poised to find an audience outside the Hoboken city limits, maybe reaching as far as Wichita or all the way to the other coast. We can only hope that music scribes have the good sense to keep the puns regarding the singer’s other vocation to minimum. The music’s too good to let that backstory overpower things.
All The Pretty Girls may be ordered here.