I must have been 12 or 13 before I knew what rockabilly was. I knew and was a fan of Elvis — I must have seen all of his movies half a dozen times each on Channel 11 in the Dark Ages before cable. It's just that, for whatever reason, I hadn't heard the word "rockabilly" until Stray Cats brought that classic sound back in the early '80s.
Did I mention we didn't have cable? I might have wanted my MTV but I had to make do with 90 minutes of "Friday Night Videos" once a week. Despite the limited doses, I became an instant fan of Stray Cats and rockabilly. Things got even better in the '90s when Stray Cats frontman Brian Setzer struck out on his own and launched the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Their combination of swing and rockabilly guitar gets me moving every time.
But I didn't call this meeting to talk about Stray Cats or even Brian Setzer but how their early-'80s relaunch of rockabilly into the popular imagination helped inspire a new generation of artists — in particular, one Colleen Duffy.
A Cleveland native, Duffy developed a love for rockabilly, classic cars, and '40s pinups. The image she developed for her band, Devil Doll, is a street tough femme fatale who (aside from the obligatory rockabilly tats) would look at home in any early film noir picture.
Devil Doll's sound is largely rockabilly but with elements of lounge, swing, jazz, and alt-rock added as needed. Duffy writes all their material and records with a semiregular set of musicians including Jerry Angel on drums, Mike Hashim on sax, and David Miller on bass guitar.
I discovered Devil Doll by accident. My wife — then girlfriend — had gotten me hooked on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" so badly that I added Melissa's two Buffy soundtrack CDs to my MP3 library. The Devil Doll song on one of the collections was called "Faith In Love." That one hooked me so badly that I immediately ordered Devil Doll's 2002 debut album, "Queen of Pain."
Here's "Faith In Love."
How has David Lynch never used Devil Doll in a movie?
Maybe more representative of Duffy's rockabilly tough-chick chic is "Heart-Sized Crush."
"Things You Make Me Do," too.
With its 18 tracks and a 73-minute running time, I'm slightly torn on "Queen of Pain." Does the album overstay its welcome by a few songs, or is it just a good value for your album-buying dollar? Maybe there is no right answer. But I can tell you that 14 of those 18 songs have been in my regular rotation for 20 years.
Sadly, a string of serious health issues including Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome type III, lupus, and more have kept Duffy's recording and performing to a minimum in recent years. But Devil Doll's 2007 follow-up, "The Return of Eve," is every bit as fun. I had a harder time getting close to their most recent album — "A Love & A Fighter," out in 2020 — but glad I made the effort.
Previously for Our VIPs: Underappreciated Albums: 'Hearts and Bones'
