Tav Falco Panther Burns - Behind The Magnolia Curtain ( Rough Trade 1981 )

Primitive And Stripped-Down Psycho Rockabilly Blues From The Swamp Rock Lord On His Debut In 1981.

American singer, songwriter, guitarist, performing artist, dancer, photographer, filmmaker. Born Gustavo 'Tav' Falco into a family with roots in southern Italy. Grew up in the backwoods of rural Arkansas. After working a diversity of jobs as a railroad 'brakeman', icehouse worker, gas station attendant & flat tire fixer, he moved from Arkansas to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1973. He became a member of Big Dixie, an alternative performance group and with Televista, an alternative film/video group in Memphis. He also worked with the noted Memphis photographer William J. Eggleston. In the process of making films & videos with blues musicians from Mississippi & Tennessee, Falco began to absorb rudimentary blues guitar playing and singing.
In 1979 Falco founded his band the PANTHER BURNS : From this cacophonic beginning Falco began to emerge as an underground cult artist with the formation of his band 'PANTHER BURNS', named after a legendary plantation in the Mississippi delta. Alex Chilton (guitar) was a founding band member along with Jim Dickinson (guitar), Eric Hill (keyboard), & Ross Johnson (drums). The band has had a number of revolving members that now include Michael Lo (bass), Peter Dark (guitar), & Tall Cash (drums).He also used to write songs under the name of Eugene Baffle.
During his early collaboration with Alex Chilton, Tav Falco obtained an unapproachable cult-like status, a position he since has been able to maintain with a repertoire and music that is a surprising mix of conversion of obscure rock'n'roll, tangos, sambas, mambos, ballads, and obscure pop standards. The PANTHER BURNS first record came out in 1980 on the band's own label FRENZI in the USA. Since then their records have been released by Rough Trade in London, New Rose in Paris, Marilyn and Munster in Spain, In The Red in Los Angeles, & Au GoGo in Melbourne, Australia
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