Paladins – Good Lovin

I posted a song by these guys a few years ago, and I ran across this song with Dave Gonzalez wailing away on guitar. His guitar solo in this one is jaw-dropping to me. He flips the Chuck Berry style on its ear and then does some nice chording through the end of the solo. I’m also a sucker for a standup bass. I’ve played 4, 6, and 8-string electric bass, but I’ve never played an upright bass. You can’t get that sound out of an electric bass. 

I love trios because I’ve played in a couple. They are hard; there is no room to hide. All of these musicians are great in this band. I key in on Gonzalez and the bassist Tomas Yearsley, but here Scott Campbell, the drummer, more than holds his own with almost a drum solo through the entire song. With this band, you can hear Sun Records and Chess Studios.

Back in the late ‘80s, when hair metal was MTV and polished pop dominated the radio, The Paladins were out there playing for the roots crowd. They were deep in the same rockabilly, blues, and roadhouse rock and roll that had been playing three decades earlier. This song was off their 1988 album Years Since Yesterday. They were mentioned in the same breath as The Blasters, Los Lobos, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds,  bands who stubbornly stuck by roots music, forgetting trends. 

The Paladins are from San Diego and were into rockabilly. They billed their music as Western Bop. They played a combination of rockabilly and vintage country together with a blues groove. They were founded in 1980 by guitarist Dave Gonzalez and bass player Thomas Yearsley.

Dave Gonzalez’s initial influences came from his mother, who listened to  Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, and the Rolling Stones. He mixed this with his father’s love of country singers Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, who also made a strong impression on him. As he got older, he got into blues artists like  B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Johnny Winter.

Dave Gonzalez and bass player Thomas Yearsley, along with current drummer Brian Fahey, are still a top attraction at clubs at the present time. They have recorded five singles, nine full-length studio records, and three live albums.

A side note for blues fans…they released a live album with Hollywood Fats in 1985. Here is a LINK to that album on YouTube…it’s great! 

Good Lovin

Well I’m dining at the station standing on the railroad tracks
Yes I’m dining at the station standing on the railroad tracks
Well I just got the news my baby is coming back
She is a sweet fine thing she looks so good to me
She is a sweet fine thing she looks so good to me
She’s a high stepping momma saving all her love for me

Yea she is cute when she walks she wobble all over the street
My baby is cute when she walks she wobbles all over the street
Yea I’ll be so glad when that train bring her back to me
Soon the train will be here tonight around a quarter til three
That’s when my woman brings her love to me
Hugs and kisses make my head spin around
Make my love come tumbling down

I’ll be glad in morning when the train is coming down the tracks
I’m so pleased my baby is coming back

Well I’m dining at the station standing on the railroad tracks
Yes I’m dining at the station standing on the railroad tracks
Well I just got the news my baby is coming back
Good Lovin, Good Lovin, Good Lovin, Good Lovin, Good Lovin, Good Lovin
Good Lovin,Good Lovin,Good Lovin

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

43 thoughts on “Paladins – Good Lovin”

  1. Pingback: Paladins – Good Lovin – MobsterTiger

      1. you’ve mentioned them before and it made my brain itch because I remember having an LP in the ’80s of rockabilly by a band called the Paladins … but I’ve looked through their discography and none of the album covers seem familiar plus I thought the one I had was a Canadian indie act. But if they were, the sound was quite similar and there’s no record of them from what I can tell. It’s weird. If Mike Starr was still alive (the indie record shop owner) I’d probably e-mail him to see if he remembered that album. I suppose it’s possible he just got the Canadian rights to one of their early albums and changed the cover art.

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      2. I think we talked about this before…something is ringing a bell. Ah! I looked up your comment. “Now I’m really confused. Coincidentally I mentioned the Paladins to Randy…but I think it was an entirely different group. In the ’80s – I thought around ’85- the local indie record store put out an album by a rockabilly band of that name. I think it was on his own store label. I had it & thought it decent. I was pretty sure they were local, s.Ontario but given that no one else seems to know of them I wonder if it was the same guys & maybe just grabbed the Canadian rights and pressed a few copies. Either way, not bad for that style of music…probably great played live”

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      1. Ah I didnt realise you lived in Nashville. 2 of my comic fanzine friends live there and tell me of the live venues and stuff – we all started as DC and Marvel fans back in the 60’s and 70’s and joined fanzines along the way till the world caught up! One of them lives in a house previously owned by Shelby Lynne, that really impressed me she was amazing on the This Is Shelby Lynne album, a classic!

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      2. Yes…I actually live in a country right beside but yes…it’s easier to tell people Nashville…I’m probably 30 mins away and I work there. Cool on the house! I love Nashville I really do. I was asked to move to Atlanta for a job but I flat out refused…traffic and crime…no thank you.

        The best way to describe Nashville is a Big Small Town…it’s spread out and people on the most part are super nice.

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  5. You got my full attention with “Good Lovin'”, Max – very cool-sounding song with an infectious, driving beat! And, yep, there’s something to be said about trios. Obviously, they have certain limitations, but if the musicians are as decent as on this song, these limitations really are no limitations. Excellent pick. I need to check further check them out.

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  6. Nice surprise Max. Gonzalez is one of my favorite players. He rips some of the best solos I’ve heard. What a hybrid of music. These guys and the others you mentioned kept music alive bigtime for me back then. It was certainly against the grain on what was commercial. Yearsley doesnt usually sing, I guess giving Dave a break. I would probably venture to see them if they got close to me. How about Dave’s mom being the big influence. Throwing in his dad’s music just topped it. Good stuff Max.

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    1. In this song alone….Gonzalez tears it up in that solo….and of course his back rhythm.
      Yea seeing his mom as an influence was really cool… like I told Christian…since you told me about them…they have been on my playlist since…been meaning to post them for 2 years.

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      1. ‘Keep Lovin Me Baby’ come to mind when I think of favorite solos. There was a live one on the internet but it disappeared.
        These guys are tight. Never far from my ears. When you mentioned the influences, I was listening to Van Morrison yesterday ( and today). He did a couple cuts of rockabilly with Perkins. It all starts there for me.

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      2. I like that one as well. That is the song I posted a few years ago.
        Tight… oh yea and that trio format enforces it. I’ve listened to a lot of them and I thought it was different for him to be singing. He does great though.
        I listened to those live cuts with Hollywood Fats… just incredible to me. That seemed like a close circle of musicians back then.

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      3. That’s right on the cut. Yeah all those guys were hooked up. The musical ideas must have been crazy

        Max, Princess Falda (daugter) put a bunch of music on a little MP3 thing a long time go. I went for a little run and was listening to the music (she id a great job). The Paladins came on with ‘Judgement Day’ You gotta slap it in. The opening bass will get you then Dave does his thing. Very sultry.

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      4. CB… that is really cool! It doesn’t sound like some of their other music I’ve listened to. Yes…you know me…you give me a cool bass line and I’m hooked. It’s got a slight…slight Booker T sound with that echo as well.
        She picked a great one for ya. I’ve bookmarked this one.

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  11. For a few years there was a little club in Santa Monica, down the street from McCabes, called the Alligator Cage. They brought in all sorts of music, including a lot of zydeco, I remember one night seeing Paladins there. Great music.

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  13. ‘I love trios because I’ve played in a couple. They are hard; there is no room to hide’.
    This is such a musician’s quote if ever there was one lol Very cool.

    This song has such a unusual cadence throughout – you’re right .. fantastic drumming. Such a bare bones sound then it goes blazing away.

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