DD VERNI GOES CRAZY
DD Verni by Nick Wolf
One of the 14 tracks off Buckle Up, the far-reaching follow-up to 2021’s surprising Let’s Rattle, by DD Verni & The Cadillac Band, is “Let’s Go Crazy” (featuring a sax solo by Johnny Reno from Stevie Ray Vaughan’s band). One would never think that this is the same dude who started Overkill with Bobby Blitz 45 years ago after graduating New Providence High School in Union County.
Verni’s musical parameters are clearly off the charts! He’s a veritable encyclopedia of American culture. He covers “Two Of A Kind,” the forgotten 1961 Bobby Darin-Johnny Mercer duet. Besides nine amazing originals—which combine rockabilly, big-band swing, jumpin’ jive and wail plus essential groove-worthy horn-section bursts—he covers ABBA! ABBA? Really? “So Long” is now his, the ‘70s Swedish white-bread superstars have to take a back seat on this tune. Then there’s “Man With The Golden Arm.” It was the theme song for a 1955 Sinatra movie about a junkie. You want a Christmas song? Verni’s is “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas,” first done by 10-year old Gayla Peevey in 1985. Talk about digging deep! (He also does “Jambalaya” from 1952 by the Patron Saint of Country Music, Hank Williams.)
Verni took Brian Setzer’s rhythm section and Rod Stweart’s arranger to mesh with horn players from the bands of McCartney and the Eagles. He also has Josh Groban’s piano player and the guitarist from Trans-Siberian Orchestra. He recorded it at Gearbox in Paramus, produced it himself, and, as evidenced by the clip below, can still shred.