Shanachie
Release date: April 24, 2007
The Deal: Hard drivin’ country-rockin’ mavericks cover old-school classics.
The Good: This is real dangerous country — the kind you’d expect from good ole boys who backed up a couple of real tough guys — Johnny Paycheck and David Allen Coe. It’s bottle bustin’, fuck or fight music. If you prefer the latter, check out the opener, Johnny Paycheck’s going-to-prison song “11 Months + 29 Days.” If you prefer the former, you can curl up with something semi-sweet while Confederate Railroad’s original singer, Danny Shirley, croons the mushy ’70s ballad “Please Come to Boston.” Billy Jo Shaver’s “Honky-Tonk Heroes” is a bit on the quiet side as well at first but quickly turns up the volume with a fast-paced dose of rattly country funk. There’s enough steel behind Shirley’s vocals to let you know he’s the real deal, a true honky-tonk hero. The rest is done in the style you’d expect from the guys who gave you “Trashy Women,” as in “I like my women a little on the trashy side” hard hittin’ honk, from Alan Jackson’s “Don’t Rock the Jukebox” to Hank Sr.’s “Whiskey On Ice,” delivered by a rowdy bunch who sound like they live the life they sing about.
The Bad: If they still sound this good doing covers, it would be great to hear what they sound like as themselves these days.
The Verdict: Get it now. These covers are soon gonna be as famous as the originals.
This article appears in Apr 25 – May 1, 2007.
