In the late 80s, Tulsa, Oklahoma singer-songwriter and musician Billy Bruner released a couple of sunkissed boogie 7"s and 12"s on RX Records, mostly notably, an explosively joyful homage to his hometown, "The T-U-L-S-A Song". When Billy wasn't recording as a solo artist, he could be found playing and singing in local ensembles like Darwin's Theory, T-Spoon and J.O.B Band.

Released last month on Athens of The North, his new self-titled compilation album packages up Billy's excellent, previously released rarities with a bunch of unreleased cuts and some new extended song versions. The tagline "lo-fi outsider boogie" has been thrown around a bit with this release, and while songs certainly came to life outside of the commercial recording industry, Billy's ear-worm melodies, soulful hooks and tightly wound grooves stand up against the top 40 successes of the era. This is my kind of drum machine funk. Apparently Billy is still producing music today. I hope we get to hear from the prince of Tulsa boogie again soon.

You can purchase the compilation in digital, CD and LP formats via Athens of The North (order here)