Commander Cody (aka George Frayne) has been making the world grin since the late ’60s with his brand of well-smoked bluesy boogie, dwelling in a place where freaks and rednecks and heads and truck drivers can shake their butts in harmony. Just as a bolo tie ain’t out of style at a Commander Cody show, neither’s a tie dye shirt. (Or a tie-dyed bolo, damn it.) Doesn’t matter if your forte is lightning-flash double-clutching on a long uphill grade or one-handed joint-rolling while tuning in the radio of your microbus – Commander Cody is playing your song.

Live From The Island is the latest offering from the Commander and his team of musical daredevils known as the Modern Day Airmen. Recorded in the Commander’s hometown of Bayshore on Long Island, NY, Live From The Island finds Cody and the Airmen (drummer Steve Barbuto, bassist Randy Bramwell, and guitarist Mark Emerick) joined by special buds Professor Louie and Miss Marie of the Crowmatix. (An added bonus is a cameo by killer picker Bill Kirchen, an alumnus of Cody’s original Lost Planet Airmen, who raises some six-string hell on the opener “Too Much Fun”.)

Let’s face it: with a career working on its fifth decade of existence, the Commander has played some of these tunes a few thousand times, right? I mean, if you’re old enough to remember when Cody’s “Hot Rod Lincoln” busted into the AM radio charts in 1972 (which I am), you can do the math. The point is, you might expect that this far down the road, the Commander and the Airmen would be going through the motions, picking up the check, and going home – but no.

This cast of characters plays their living asses off. I’m serious.

Click HERE to read the rest of my Commander Cody review on Jambands.com