Fast Girl

During the mid and late 1990s, the Tractors, five Tulsa-based session musicians who seldom toured, enjoyed a platinum-studded run on the charts with their good-timey, groove-laden, rockabilly-injected, retro-country-rock sound. Without fanfare or a name change, the Tractors have more or less become the Tractor on this 2001 release, which is their/his first in nearly three years. Fast Girl is largely the creation of guitarist and lead vocalist Steve Ripley, who has replaced his erstwhile bandmates with a revolving lineup of nearly 30 distinguished guest musicians, including Leon Russell, James Burton, Willie Weeks, Sam Bush, Fats Kaplin, and D.J. Fontana. Not surprisingly, considering Ripley's studio savvy, tracks like "Can't Get Nowhere," "Nine Eleven," "Computer Controlled," and rollicking covers of Moon Mullican's "Don't Ever Take My Picture Down" and Dylan's "On the Road Again" possess all the hooks, levity, and down-home élan of the Tractors' previous hits. The icing on the cake comes with more heartfelt tracks like the forlorn "Ready to Cry" and the gospel-flavored "Higher Ground," where Ripley injects some real soulfulness into his dexterous bag of tricks. --Bob Allen