Frank Hoier and The Weber Brothers
That Old-Fashioned Romantic Kind Of Love
Jan 31, 2010
Words by Sean Moeller
Illustration by Johnnie Cluney
Sound engineering by Mike Gentry
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Black Dress Blues
unreleased
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Time Flies (When You're Wit…
unreleased
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Can't Do Nothin' (Weber Bro…
unreleased
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Lie Down In The Bed You Mad…
unreleased
When Frank Hoier tucks us in at night, he does so with tales of self-explanatory wants, little odes to the one he loves. He sings to us about this woman, or a combination of women from the past, all of whom either got away or are on the ropes, about to jump ship. They also can be, but rarely are, of the faithful companion - the minx that continues to drive him wild with desire. These tales are slight and detailed in easy to understand terms as the feelings expressed don't need any sort of adornment to carry the meaning that he needs them to. They express what this New York songwriter has been through in his efforts to keep this woman in his life. They have rockabilly backbones and all of the most important measures of old blues songs - the kinds that are performed with great vigor and spirit, but ultimately hold within them the most depressing imagery that a man could ever deal and deal with. These are songs about waiting and waiting and waiting for the girl. They are about believing that there's a good thing happening here and that any fool should see that real love has struck a note and that there should be no further need for wandering eyes or exploratory hearts. Just settle in for life with this one, Hoier's songs seem to say. This is good and this is true. He brings a strong knack for the romantic ideals of old-fashioned leading men, good men, who want to bring home the bacon to a house filled from floor to ceiling with his loving family, rushing at him like an avalanche, just to jump into his arms when he comes in through the door at quitting time. It's an outdated concept in many ways, but damn if that wasn't the American standard not even 50 years ago - you found that good man or that good woman and kept him or her. You raised a family and you lived for those people through all the thicks and the thins. Hoier writes songs that speak to that settling down nature of human beings, to still feeling a passion for your partner all those many years later. If you're in love, you're in love and there's no fighting it. It's a yearning and a pact with another that comes through on the songs featured here, with the Weber Brothers as his backing band, and on his latest full-length, "Lovers and Dollars." It sounds as if we're whipped right back to those days of yore when more men were one woman guys and there was a pride to that - a proud couple getting through things together. He sings, "Hear me howlin'/She's shinin' like a full moon out tonight," and there's that pride inside that. And "Time Flies (When You're With The One You Love)" says everything that he means and all that he cares about - a true love experienced in slow motion beneath a quickly moving sky full of clouded shapes and airplanes. They pass by like flocks and there's no anxiety to do the same or to stop whatever this is.
Frank Hoier Official Site
Weber Brothers Official Site
