John Anderson - lead vocals, guitar; Mike Jordan - piano; Ax Lincoln - tack bass; Larry Emmons - bass; Jim Wolf - drums; Tom Morley - fiddle; Vern Pildren - lead guitar; Bucks Reed - pedal steel
New traditionalist John Anderson, one of the brightest country stars of the mid-1980s, delivers a very hot performance here at famed Los Angeles rock club the Roxy. Known for its legendary early career shows of David Bowie, Bob Marley, Iggy Pop and the Police, the Roxy seemed like an odd place to showcase one of the rising honky-tonk stars of that era. But Anderson stepped out to see a full house eager to hear his Bakersfield-styled country tunes. Opening with "Swinging" and "Cheatin' Songs," his set includes many of his radio hits, such as "Your Lying Blue Eyes," "She Never Looked That Good When She Was Mine," "Highway 65," "I Love You," "I'm Almost Jack Daniels Drowned," "1959" and "I'm Just An Old Chunk of Coal." He played a number of interesting covers, including a country read of the Willie Dixon blues standard "You Can't Judge A Book (By The Cover)" and the classic 1966 Merle Haggard hit "Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down."
After moving from his native Florida to Nashville, Tennessee in the mid-1970s, Anderson transitioned from having an interest in rock to developing a full-blown love of country music. He attached himself to the famed Bakersfield, California sound that had been made famous by Merle Haggard and Buck Owens, among others. He was already an established star by the time this show was recorded for the Silver Eagle Cross Country Radio Concert Series in April, 1983 - three years after breaking out his first self-titled Warner Brothers album. Critics soon called him, along with Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle, a pioneer of "the New Traditionalists," and this show is proof as to why. They don't get more down home than this.