The Notting Hillbillies – Missing… Presumed Having a Good Time

Studio album by The Notting Hillbillies

Missing… Presumed Having a Good Time is an Americana celebration by some talented Englishmen.

Mark Knopfler needs little introduction as Dire Straits ended up being able to fill stadiums which usually means you get further and further away from the talent, with electronic aids to assist the singer and musicians vocally and musically and then even bigger video screens to distract the listener. So Knopfler probably missed the smaller musical events playing with his buddies and just having a good time.

The roads in Notting Hill (a pretty nice artist-friendly part of London) would not normally be associated with country music and wide-open spaces. So the play on words for the Notting Hillbillies is a fun nod to the talented musicians playing on this album. Notting Hill in Melbourne would inspire a different more Hilltop Hoods vibes (apologies to my mates in Adelaide).

I’ll admit I’m a huge fan of Americana. Having driven the road from Los Angeles to Las Vegas many times (a 5 hour stint of some winding mountain passes and then gun barrel straight runs into the “Planet Zorg” that is Vegas) you need some music for the journey.  One can assume you can go missing in Vegas and everyone thinks it’s all fun and no work. I can assure you the setups for CES shows entail a lot of hard work. I think this is why the title of this album appeals to me. That said I’ve had some of the biggest laughs and good times with friends in Vegas (George Moraitis of Nirvana Sound, Rick Brown of RBHifiOne and Steve McCormack of SMCAudio on one road trip in 2018 that ended up with a joke punchline that still makes my stomach ache from laughing too hard).

The soundtrack at CES is something that needs an antidote to the relentless overplays you get at hi-fi shows. It’s funny but the road from Los Angeles to San Francisco up the West Coast has a different soundtrack (as the winding ocean views are classic rock territory). Not sure if you do the same thing by aligning music to roads you’ve driven buts it’s a lot of fun.

So, on a lazy Sunday morning what can you play which is fun and enjoyable and takes you on a road trip down memory lane? This album is a good place to start. It won’t demand complete focus, it won’t make you scour the soundscape for audiophile “tinkle” (although don’t get me wrong it’s nicely recorded and full of details you can uncover on a late night session playing the same album). It will put you in a good place though.

As a blues fan I like the sound of Pedal Steel guitar and slide. A good friend of mine Harry Karalis is a Jazz authority having an encyclopaedic knowledge of the art and my go-to for finding great Jazz recordings. We both enjoy Jazz in all its forms. So when he suggested one night he play a country blues player called Junior Brown (an Arizona legend who plays a double-neck guitar with lap steel as the second neck) I was surprised. I thought if Harry reckons its good it must be worth chasing. JB’s work is more humorous and designed to get the saloon party started. But the tones of pedal steel are what we both dig. You don’t have to be as adventurous to get Notting Hillbillies.

Notting Hillbillies is a more traditional approach to blues with country picking guitar and slide play.
The other players are Brendan Croker, Steve Phillips, and Guy Fletcher. Mark Knopfler lets his buddies shine and it’s not a Dire Straits “lite”. The styles range from great harmonies in “Railroad Worksong”, to the ’50s-style rock “Bewildered” and a bunch of swing. It’s laid back for the most part and the songs work together as a whole album.

Once you start to really enjoy this album you’ll sure to start looking at Chet Atkins collaborations and heck you might even end up at Junior Brown on the “Road broke down south of Dallas” and Ernest Tubb which is a good way to get from Kansas City to Dallas (another road trip for another day).

“Missing…Presumed having a good time” is definitely worth having on LP!

Track listing

No.      Title     Writer(s)          Length
1.         “Railroad Worksong”  Traditional       5:29
2.         “Bewildered”    Leonard Whitcup, Teddy Powell        2:37
3.         “Your Own Sweet Way”          Mark Knopfler 4:32
4.         “Run Me Down”          Traditional       2:25
5.         “One Way Gal”            Traditional       3:10
6.         “Blues Stay Away from Me”   A. Delmore, R. Delmore, Wayne Raney, Henry Glover        3:50
7.         “Will You Miss Me”     Steve Phillips  3:52
8.         “Please Baby” Traditional       3:50
9.         “Weapon of Prayer”    I. & C. Louvin  3:10
10.       “That’s Where I Belong”          Brendan Croker          2:51
11.       “Feel Like Going Home”         Charlie Rich    4:52

Personnel

Music

Mark Knopfler – guitar, vocals
Guy Fletcher – keyboards, vocals
Brendan Croker – guitar, vocals
Steve Phillips – guitar, vocals
Paul Franklin – pedal steel guitar
Additional musicians
Marcus Cliffe – bass
Ed Bicknell (Dire Straits’ manager) – drums

Production

Mark Knopfler – producer
Guy Fletcher – producer
Bill Schnee – engineer
Brian Aris – photography
Ron Eve – technician