The rockabilly genre had its umpteenth revival in the 1980s thanks to the Flat Duo Jets of Chapel Hill (North Carolina), led by a "retro" genius like Dexter Romweber. The EP In Stereo (Dolphin, 1985), although devoted to re-editions of period classics, already highlighted the singular compositional and performance skills of the leader (at the time only seventeen) in the instrumental Theme For Dick Fontaine.
Flat Duo Jets (Dog Gone, 1990) is still largely a gallery of obscure
"oldies" but one begins to notice the tormented persona of
Romweber, who seems to find in rockabilly music the cathartic vehicle
for his neuroses (Chiquita the new instrumental).
Rockabilly is indeed the religion of second album
Go Go Harlem Baby (Sky, 1991),
which spans the whole field, from
Jerry Lee Lewis' boogie to Cramps' voodoo.
Maturing and gaining confidence in his means, Romweber finally came up with a collection of all original songs, White Trees (Sky, 1993), not surprisingly also the most rustic of his albums. The stories are called Daughter Of The Jungle, Michelle, White Trees and draw heavily from the traditions of Nashville, Memphis and the Delta. The passionate boogie of Old Soul and the comic country-rock of Husband Of A Country Singing Star take him away from rockabilly.
Safari (Norton, 1993) collects unreleased tracks.
The Flat Duo Jets, always the missing link between the
Stray Cats and
Reverend Horton Heat,
continued their solitary saga with the wild and young at heart
Introducing (Norton, 1995), whose Theme,
Torpedo and Golden Strings are among their classics,
and the refined Red Tango (Norton, 1996), that includes
Tell Django and
Baby Are You Hiding From Me.
Wild Blue Yonder (Norton, 1998) is a live album.
Lucky Eye (Outpost, 1999),
another generous dose of rockabilly and boogie woogie,
adds string and horn sections, but still excels at
Romweber's classic retro tricks (Lucky Eye).
Dexter Romweber joined his sister to form the Dex Romweber Duo and release
Ruins Of Berlin (Bloodshot, 2009), a relatively subdued work that
mainly relies on high-class duets (Cat Power, Neko Case, Exene Cervenka and Rick Miller of Southern Culture On The Skids).
Romweber died in 2024 at the age of 57.
