Steve Barker/TELE RANCH: Press

"Surf,Turf and Twang"****
This is quite a nice set of tunes. It's not trad at all, not even really surf per say, yet there are many elements of the genre, and a few covers that fit as well. Tele Ranch have created a very interesting merger between jazz and rock and surf and exotica and anything else laying around. Steve Barker is the guitar man, and his backing is provided by the Ditherie Dudes (now there's a name!).

"Kind of Twang" *****
They call it Twestern Music. I call it Twangzilla. Tele Ranch is a Steve Barker project that's just too cool. Country edged jazz tunes with a big grin.

"Kind of Twang"
Listening to this record I'm transported back to the days when real leaded
gas was 21 cents a gallon, and you could motor down the road with the top down on your '65 mustang convertable blissfully unaware that you were poisoning everyone, and if you got hit from behind you would instantly go up in flames. The guitar playing is beautifully executed and this record hemorrhages resplendent kitsch.

Surf,Turf and Twang
In a world where it seems that everything has been done on the guitar, Steve Barker brings a welcomed freshness of style and concept.
While his roots spring from the heritage of Telecaster greats like Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton, Steve never overplays or resorts to technical gimmickry, instead maintaining lyricism, surprise, and humor, more along the lines of say, Bill Frissell (with whom he uncannily shares the same date and city of birth!).
Steve injects an Americana twang into such classics as MIles Davis's Freddy the Freeloader and Chick Corea's La Fiesta, with results so seamless and listenable you forget you ever heard these tunes any other way. The results are hip, listenable, and fun. Check it out.

"Steve, stick to Surf Music"!

"Tele Ranch is Steve Barker, backed by his fictitious band with the great name, The Fabulous Ditherie Dudes. "Prairie Surfin'" is a solid set of home brew tracks."
Four Stars
Phil Dirt
Reverb Central

Sure I like your stuff. Now leave me alone!

On "Kind of twang" Steve returns with more Jazz classics delivered with
equal parts humor, nuance, and sublety, and never descends into
overbearing guitar-for-guitar's sake. While rooted in a Country-Jazz
approach, on Miles' Davis' "All Blues" Steve's playing is downright atmospheric. This is the perfect disk for a long cruise down a stretch of Arizona Highway, or to play for your sophisticated friends who have only heard mainstream country radio.