Lester, Winchester, McKendree

They Got It All

Times Three Records

In recent years, as Lester, Winchester, and McKendree began performing live together, an evolution started to take shape. Well-respected roots rock/Americana sideman drummer Jimmy Lester (Billy Joe Shaver, Webb Wilder, Los Straitjackets) is also a master of surf-rock styled drumming, as heard with The Planet Rockers, alongside founding member Mark W. Winchester on upright bass.

Winchester, originally from Monroe, North Carolina, earned his stripes with Emmylou Harris’ Nash Ramblers before becoming a Music Row staff songwriter, where he penned a hit for Randy Travis. He later joined the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Winchester recalls, “I was changing strings one day and started thinking about the band Morphine and how their frontman Mark Sandman played a 2-string bass,” which inspired him to restring his own bass the same way. The sonically unique result made the decision to record an album a no-brainer.

Kevin McKendree, originally from the Washington, D.C. area, came to Nashville as the piano man for Lee Roy Parnell and quickly established himself as a true blues keyboardist. He has played on multiple Grammy-winning albums, including those by Mike Henderson, Brian Setzer’s Rock-A-Billy Riot, The Brian Setzer Orchestra, and Delbert McClinton. McKendree earned a Grammy as musician, co-writer, producer, and engineer on McClinton’s 2020 album Tall, Dark & Handsome, which he recorded at his Rock House Studio. It was there, at Rock House, that McKendree, Lester, and Winchester created the loose, lyrically engaging aural document that is They Got It All.

The album opens with “I’m No Amateur,” featuring Latin-flavored piano and warm B-3 organ from McKendree, as Winchester sings, “I’m no amateur, I must have your pay, for what I’m gonna do for you, don’t be surprised by the look in my eyes. Every faked emotion will ring so true, I’m no amateur, I must have your pay for what it is I give up, little soul pieces, long as it eases your pain for awhile, I’m gonna make you smile,” complete with interesting harmonies.

On the blue-collar anthem “Delaney And The Ditch,” Winchester chimes, “All the people wanted to talk about was diggin’ a ditch, Delaney did that for a living so he tried to switch the conversation to more pleasant things, but the people only wanna hear Delaney sing about the ditch, ditch, ditch – how deep, how long?” This rocker carries a Buddy Holly-like feel.

The title track, “They Got It All,” features Winchester chanting, “I got bummed, I got rushed, I got babied, I got shushed, I got watched like a hawk, I ran away, I didn’t walk, they got it all, they got it all wrong about me. I got suspected, I got teased, I got hurried, I got squeezed, I got inspected like a bug, I scurried under the rug. They got it all, they got it all wrong about me.”

On the collaborative instrumental “Surf The Allman Ballroom,” Lester’s surf-inspired drumming drives the track forward, with sharp, Ventures-style snare intros and licks creating standout moments. On “Down The Same Street,” Winchester belts, “I see my baby walkin’ down the street I hope my baby’s coming back to me…back to me, back to me, I hope my baby’s coming back to me.”

“Baby’s Carburetor” is a high-octane workout fueled with witty hot-rod innuendo, as Winchester wails, “I wanna girl with a Z-28, when I tell her to come, she won’t ever be late, just rollin’ down that highway of love, it’s my baby’s carburetor, on the highway of love, I wanna girl with-a fuel injection, when I start her up, there won’t be no objection.”

On the darker, psyche-probing “Bad Mantras,” Winchester cries, “I got no luck (bad mantra), everything’s fucked (bad mantra), listen up, a bad mantra will do you in, always gotta think twice ( bad mantra), cause this world ain’t nice (bad mantra), take my advice, a bad mantra will do you in.”

The humorously offbeat “Dylan Ain’t Spillin’” finds Winchester howling, “Berlin goes in for Brandenburg, Paris goes in for light, folks in Madrid don’t eat, I heard, ’til ten o’clock at night, The King got tired of the movie set, the Beatles got tired of the throngs. Jesus, he ain’t come back yet and Dylan ain’t spillin’ ’bout his songs.”

On the reflective, middle-age waltz “The Right Pose,” Winchester croons, “I used to try so hard to be easy on your eyes now, I take for granted you like what you see, the young man you fell for is hardly recognized, yet you’re still here with me, I guess sometimes I strike the right pose.”

The album closes with another collaborative instrumental, allowing the band to fully display its musical chops.

Songwriters often say that a new instrument can “have songs in it,” or that writing on an unfamiliar instrument can open up new creative paths. If you listen closely to Lester, Winchester, and McKendree’s They Got It All, you’ll hear exactly that spirit at work.

Richard Ludmerer

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