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"If you like country with a boogie beat - they're the band to meet"
Expanded from an occasional duo and pick-up band that songwriters David Penhale and P.J. Wright had been having fun with in pubs since 1990 - finding the ideal rhythm section two years ago and completing the band last year with the addition of Mike Roberts' piano and Hammond organ. Their first album "True Believer", recorded during the spring of '97 and released January '98, contains eleven original songs from the band's repertoire - which also features material by Little Feat, Steve Earle, The Band, and more arcane country-flavored covers, instrumental dexterity and crap jokes.
"The songs on "True Believer" have been around for awhile (The Steve Gibbons Band recorded "American Rock & Roll" on Saints & Sinners and "Personal Problem" on Ridin' Out The Dark albums), it was a case of clearing the shelves, using the stuff that we know works, having played 'em in on stage - and it's all fairly melodic stuff. The next album will show a little more edge, representing the newer, upbeat songs - Mike and Anthony have more input these days, David and I are co-writing again - most notably our lonesome Christmas song! The first Little Feat LP I heard was "Dixie Chicken" (we still finish the show with that particular song): it made more sense to me than anything I'd heard since The Beatles/Muddy Waters/Bob Dylan. A decade or so later, listening to Dwight Yoakum and the other Enigma-label LA cowboys made me look again at country music, which I'd heard through the folk scene - loved Hank Williams, didn't love Kenny 'n' Tammy." PJ
"I first met Penhale in 1967: recognizing a fellow apprentice bohemian by his interesting leather jacket and air of Celtic poet, it was obvious to me that he played guitar, wrote songs and poetry, and held firm opinions on Art, Life & Everything. This turned out to be the case - we shared a squalid student flat for a while, based on the imagined lifestyle of our beloved two Dylans (Thomas & Bob), and co-wrote a few dozen songs, having become a folkie duo (later a trio with Fred Harris - who became a longtime presenter of BBC TV's Play School!). We were the stars of our little crowd for a year or so: eventually we wrote separately and competitively. David was exhibiting renaissance-man characteristics - publishing poetry, acting in college productions, holding forth earnestly in print on literary and seriously arty subjects - I became more interested in what was then beginning to be called "Rock" music - it sounded so much worthier without the "& Roll" - and seemed to allow more scope for a life of hedonistic excess than folkies or coffee house beatniks. In 1970 David went to Birmingham to be a teacher of English & Drama, I went to London to join a band - any band. We didn't see each other for twelve years." PJ
"We had bumped into each other's lives again: I played him some songs, he invited me to demo them at his house - on an ancient reel to reel 4-track machine - we worked through a couple of nights, I went home and within a day or so I had received these great Spectoresque arrangements of my stuff - all home made instruments like "that cowbell's really a tobacco tin at half-speed," "the timpani is me kicking the sofa with lots of reverb" etc. ('Vapour Trails' was liberally spiced with the sound of a WWII Spitfire, lifted from a movie on TV!) We started appearing in local pubs as a duo - the first time using the Tortellini name in 1990 opening for the great Birmingham band The E Numbers (later Vincent Flatts, another southern boogie/country outfit: must be something in the water around here)." DP
"I was always very impressed by the British folk/rockers' artistic freedom - you will often hear on the same record a lush string section, brass band, grungy electric guitars, solo concertina or whatever, on tunes from four centuries ago, a Beatles, a Brecht/Weill or a Hank Williams song and it hangs together beautifully out of sheer spirit, noble intent or something." PJ
"PJ had found this wonderful rhythm section, booked a room and called a rehearsal. Within five minutes of opening my guitar case, I knew this was the band I'd always wanted to be in." DP
(*)The name "Flying Tortellini" refers to that circus-style flourish, in which the subject is balanced on a recumbent adult's upraised foot, lifting them high into the air - a routine much beloved of five year old acrobats.
All aspiring British Country musicians and bands should purchase this record and take notes on "how to make a great sounding, superbly produced country rock record in Britain, while struggling under a low budget". Although, you should expect nothing less because this outfit is led by PJ Wright, Steve Gibbons Band guitarist/pedal steel player and occasional Nashville Cat.
The Tortellinis wear their influences on their sleeves, from the steamy Little Feat slide guitar workout of True Believer (featuring some wonderfully soulful backing vocals from Christine Collister) through the pedal-steely lonesome country drinking ballads Pass Me The Bottle and Never Drink. Fellow songwriter David Penhale also chips in with some west coast flavored narratives - Hostage and Desperate Heart.
The arrangements are strong and the production clean, but it's the sublime musicianship that really steals the show. Wright and Penhale's guitars sparkle, while the rhythm section of Harty and Wilkinson is super tight. A remarkable debut. ****1/2
Neil Howarth
Country Music International Feb. 1998
As soon as I heard the opening and title track "True Believer" I knew that the FLYING TORTELLINIS were the band for me. It was as though a number of my favorite bands had come together to create a program of contemporary country-rock just for me. Within that sound I could detect traces of Manassas, Poco and The Burritos, with just a hint, on occasions, of The Oak Ridge Boys and Jimmy Buffet. Steel driven harmonies delivered by a bunch of guys who really know the business. I mean just look at the background. Leader, vocalist guitarist, steelie, writer PJ WRIGHT works with Steve Gibbons, Des Horsfall and Cathie Stewart. IAN WILKINSON (drums), ANTHONY HARTY (bass), MIKE ROBERTS (keys) and DAVID PENHALE (guitar, vocals, writer) ... so the band has a pedigree. They also have the talent, originality and vision to make them big stars. You'll not be disappointed - guarantee it.
Pete Smith
Country Music Round-up March 1998