Annie Dolan With Joel Paterson - Atta Boy Girl (2024)

Newcomer Annie Dolan is a singer-songwriter and guitarist who recently released her debut album, Atta Boy Girl, in the fall of 2024. It consists of nine cover songs plus the instrumental, "Fussbudget," the collection's only original composition. She's in the midst of recording a full-length, self-written, pop-rock release, but in the interim she's issued this very fine set of throwback tunes.

Dolan gets a lot of help from lead guitar player and mentor Joel Paterson who produced the sessions for her. Even though he's new to me Paterson is a highly regarded axman from Chicago who has recorded several albums of acoustic and electric guitar instrumentals. He's very much worth listening to, and it seems I've been missing out on his very cool chops. He'll be featured here in a future post.

Dolan's album isn't country, nor is it rock. Instead, it blends both genres with the artist's pop sensibilities and her strong, but very pleasing, vocals. Rockabilly immediately comes to mind, but even that doesn't accurately describe the music you'll discover here. Most of these songs date back to the 1950s, 1960s, and earlier. The majority of them are probably unknown to most music fans, and it makes the album sound fresh despite the age of the material.

I own the title track as the b-side of Roger Miller's gigantic country hit, "King of the Road" (#4 on the Hot 100 in 1965). I thought it was too good to be a flip side then, and Dolan's updated version makes sure I continue to feel that way. It's easy to see why she chose it to open her album. The singer must be a big fan of the late star because she offers listeners a second Miller tune, "You're My Kingdom."

"Cry me a River," was first recorded by Julie London in the mid-50s. It was later a hit by Joe Cocker, and now it's a standard for Michael Bublé. Dolan gives it a nice treatment in a unique, light rock setting.

There are two songs with connections to The Beatles. "Besame Mucho" dates back to 1932 and was recorded twice by the Liverpudlians: first, as part of their failed, 1962 Decca audition and later that year as part of their initial recording session for George Martin at EMI. "Lonesome Tears in My Eyes" was first released by singer Johnny Burnette and his Rock 'n Roll Trio in 1956. The Beatles put it on tape for their 1963 BBC radio sessions.

"Marie's the Name (His Latest Flame)" was a hit for the real Elvis in 1961, and Dolan also covers "Sorry Charlie" by Carl Perkins, another Sun Records artist.

"Foolin' Around" is an old Buck Owens track and "It's Motel Time Again" was originally a hit for Johnny Paycheck.

The album's photograph and graphics are accurate representations of how LP covers looked back in the day. Despite the artwork, Atta Boy Girl is currently only available digitally through Bandcamp, iTunes and Amazon Music. A limited edition, vinyl version is on its way.

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