In 2005, I reviewed an album by a great roots and rockabilly band The Two Timin’ Three. As sometimes happens to music writers, I lost track of the band. In 2007, I heard a few tracks posted on their Myspace page that hinted at a new, innovative sound that looked toward alt-rock while retaining much of what made them a first-rate roots band. Then, in late 2008 I was shocked to discover that 27-year-old Laufer, a motorcycle enthusiast, had been killed earlier in the year in a hit-and-run homicide while stopped at a red light on his bike. Laufer’s killer had been driving a truck and has still not been brought to justice.

Laufer’s family has spearheaded an email campaign to try and get his story on America’s Most Wanted. They are encouraging anyone who cares to email producers at AMW today (Sept. 10) and ask them to produce Eric’s story on the show in hopes of finding his killer.

You can check out the Facebook link here. You can see the news report on Eric’s homicide here.

Centered around lead-singer/rhythm guitarist Eric Laufer, the band also featured lead guitarist Jeff Herring, and bassist Shane Kiel. Originally from the Boston-area, the band relocated to the roots-music friendly capitol of Austin, Texas and quickly became favorites on the local and international rockabilly scene. As a drummer-less trio, The Two Timin’ Three recorded a superb 2005 debut album Where Did You Sleep Last Night? and and an equally compelling 2006 follow-up Payin’ the Price. And man could they rock, even without a drummer you were never aware of any lacking rhythmic component. This due in large part to Kiel’s percussive double-bass prowess and Herring’s puckered, mercurial facility as a first-rate chicken-picker on the guitar. And yet, there was so much more to their sound than flat-out rockabilly — though they did that as well as anybody else. All three members contributed songs and while rootsy, the tunes often hinged on delicate melodies, jazz-inflected harmonies and tricky rhythmic interplay that hinted at depression-era swing from the ’30s.

“Black & White Baby” (from Where Did You Sleep Last Night?)
“Twilight Calling” from (Payin’ the Price)

Sometime after Payin’ the Price, the group added drummer Patrick Morrow, changed their name to The Two Timin’ Four and began expanding their sound with a subtle and innovative approach that perfected the band’s rockabilly and jazz roots while touching on French chansons, angular ’80s post-punk and modern alt-rock. The result was 2007’s Dark Before the Dawn, an ambitious album — sometimes awkwardly so — especially for neo-rockabilly standards, but a deeply creative and individualist statement of purpose. Aesthetically, the album brings to mind such like-minded touchstones as solo-career Morrissey, the melodic eclecticism of Crowded House and the whole of Roy Orbison’s career. Posed on the album cover like some kind of cross-pollinated old-time bluegrass revival band meets post-punk Krautrockers, The Two Timin’ Four were clearly on the cusp of something wholly original and quite possibly grand. Sadly, with Eric’s passing the band had no choice but to move on and leave what might have been as just that.

“Black Cloud” (from Dark Before the Dawn)