Too Slim raises stakes for 2009

Tim “Too Slim” Langford is no fortune teller, but with a little strategizing and free-flowing creative juice, he figures he has a good chance of seeing his next album on the record charts.

The leader of Too Slim and the Taildraggers was as surprised as Billboard was when the band’s self-released “Fortune Teller” album reached No. 9 on the magazine’s blues chart in 2007.

“They had no idea who we were. They called and said that they were verifying that we actually existed,” Langford said during a telephone interview from his home in Seattle.

“That last one was a crap shoot and a pleasant surprise. Now we have a release strategy, and a pre-release with our e-mail newsletter, digital distribution simultaneous with the Internet release. ‘Fortune Teller’ wasn’t even available in stores at first.”

Save for playing a few big shows in Seattle and a pair of holiday homecoming shows, Too Slim and the Taildraggers are focused on maintaining momentum with their forthcoming album, “Free Your Mind.”

The Seattle-by-way-of-Spokane trio plays a special Christmas jam and buffet dinner on Saturday at The Knitting Factory, with accompaniment from the Underworld Orchestra Horns, which features members of the Spokane Jazz Orchestra.

Too Slim then rings in the new year at the Semi-Normal Semi-Formal New Year’s Eve Bash benefit for Angels Over Sandpoint, which offers assistance for families in need.

Following the unexpected success of “Fortune Teller,” Too Slim is breaking out of its blues-rock box on its next release, Langford said.

“I started out in a hard-core rockabilly band called the Studebakers. I wanted a blues band when I started Too Slim, and I love it,” he said.

“That’s where my heart’s at, but these days I want to write music. There are influences from the Beatles, the Stones, there is country, blues, rock and Americana.”

Like “Fortune Teller,” “Free Your Mind” was recorded in Santa Paula, Calif., at The Groves studio by friend and multi-instrumentalist/producer Todd Smallwood.

Smallwood jumped on Hammond B3 organ and 12-string guitar on a few tracks. The album also features some female vocals from a set of twins who sing backup, and L.A.’s Lauren Evans sings lead on the gospel-rock closer, “The Light,” which was originally slated for “Fortune Teller.”

“ ‘Free Your Mind’ is way more raw and more rock. It’s not like a blues rock album, but it has that on there, too,” Langford said, noting that his wife, Nancy, pushed him to let go of inhibitions in the songwriting.

“I wanted to make a better record than ‘Fortune Teller.’ Nancy encouraged me to not worry about anything, to not be a certain style. To just be.”