Shooter Jennings, "The Wolf"

I just try to ignore the confederate flag-shaped guitar

"old friend" killer crazed dive-bomb solo w/horns @ end, awesome

"slow train" featuring the oak ridge boys...fucking killer

bonus: the guitars sound like guitars

ok as good as the performance on 'concrete cowboys' is, I fuckin hate any and all "girl, understand that your man has a darkness inside him" songs

"higher" follows "concrete cowboys" and makes up for it even though its opening couplet is lame city

bitchin' weird pulsing effect - guitar getting fucked with by producer? sounds almost like a trance patch - on the excellent "blood from a stone"

"slow train" featuring the oak ridge boys...fucking killer

Agreed. This is a really solid album, I think its the best thing he's put together so far. Glad to see someone else liking this.

I was lukewarm on his other stuff, this is just POW most of the time, what a great band he's got

fuck yeah it's the deep cut ballad, "she lives in color," swooping pedal steel, great great vocal melody, more great horn section. this album is fantastic.

I've only listened to it once so far, but all this excitement makes me want to pull it out again!

That live album from last year dampened my enthusiasm for Shooter, but thank god I took a chance and picked this one up. Shame about that cover though.

haha the cover's gaudiness is winning to me, it looks like some meth'd-out electro album!

omg the 9-to-5 re-do on "a matter of time," fucking A

Some good tracks, and I like that overall he seems ready to take responsibilty for love messes etc., but several where he relies too much on charm/cuteness (always a nice warm 'tween you 'n' me voice though, and not trying to imitate his father), and the first couple of albums seemed more exciting, to him too maybe (haven't heard the live one)(already posted more about this on Rolling Country).

this guy sucks

you are wrong!

I have mixed feelings about Shooter's new album -- Consistently good, maybe, but never great like "4th of July" or "Daddy's Farm" or "Hair of the Dog" or "Little White Lines" off his first two albums. Probably my least favorite of the three, yet I still like it quite a bit. More details later, when I am not quite as tired as I am right now.

I don't know the other two - I remember auditing one of them and not being taken with it. I will probably go back and fix that now because I am just loving this album. Dude is a solid lyricist and I like the way his shit's recorded - voice sounds good & close, guitars are audible and nice, band is tight. Also that Oak Ridge Boys track is killing me.

So finally, for those not perusing the Rolling Country thread:

(1) Shooter seems to be talk-singing more and pretending he's actually able to sing less, which theoretically is probably a smart move, i.e., in the opening biker-rocker "This Ol Wheel" feat. Doug Kershaw, but his talking is not completely pulling me in, though it is reminding me that I also haven't heard the new album by Waffle House arestee Kid Rock yet; (2) Second song "Tangled Up Roses" seems to be at least partially built around a riff that reminds me of "Sweet Jane"; (3) I used to think "Walk Of Life" by Dire Straits was one of the lamest rock hits of the '80s, and Shooter has not fully managed to convince me otherwise with his cover version; (4) mariachi parts in the onomotopoetically train-rhythmed "Slow Train" feat. Oak Ridge Boys and the title track are certainly welcome; (5) "Higher"'s country swamp-funk is reminiscent of old country talk-singer Jerry Reed; (6) "Blood From A Stone" has some weird electronic stuff wafting through (which reminds me that that Alvin Lee rap song I mentioned a couple posts ago sort of reminded me of ZZ circa El Loco); (7) "She Lives in Color" has a mildly beautiful hippiefied melody to it appropriate of its title; (8) Closer "A Matter of Time"'s waltz for drinking men would undoubtedly sound good on a bar jukebox and (as John D pointed out) does contain an amusing "9 to 5" reference, specifically when Shooter refers to a nosebleed from being punched.

This album is great. First one of his I've liked at all, and just LOVING this one. My only complaint is that to my ears, it's poorly sequenced. That first tune - kinda woof.

I'm still really curious to hear what people think is happening on this new one that wasn't happening, or happening as well, on the first two. Because, to me, the new one strikes me as basically the same thing, but with songs that aren't as good...

I've no use for the Dire Straits cover. Here's the thing: No one in Shooter's band can play guitar as good as Mark Knopfler. No one in Shooter's band -- like Shooter -- can sing as well as Mark Knopfler, who hardly "sang" at all.

Why'd he even do that?

OK, if you start this album on track #4 and omit "Higher" (track #8), it's the best damn album of 2007.

fuck that, "This Ol' Wheel" is worth keeping

I can't hang with the rappin,' dude. It's why I cut "Higher" too. I can't play it with the windows open.

The new Kid Rock album is better, if anybody's interested. (Details on rolling country thread.)

kid rock is awesome

OMG this new album sounds/looks crazy, and is getting really polarized reviews ("best thing ever", "horrible"). Picked it up this afternoon, the packaging is pretty cool - haven't dove into it yet though. Apparently some sort of concept record about the evils of government that somehow involves Stephen King as a radio announced named "Will O the Wisp" and is like all crazy prog/industrial with hardly any country.

Yeah, we've been discussing it some on both Rolling Country and Rolling Hard Rock. Won't cut and paste, but here's a few permalinks:

Rolling Country 2010

Rolling Country 2010

Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2010

not a fan. of shooter. or hank 3. or hank 2 come to think of it.

Heh, don't really keep up with the country threads, thanks for those links!

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1kFLEFhHLc

Y'all, this Giorgio album is insane.

in the bad way, or the good way

Still unclear.

from arm's length it seems like the kind of album one makes when one does waaay too much blow

like he's in the don simpson portion of his career atm

It's very Random Access Memories.

Shooter @ whut now seems to have been his creative peak---last graf wuz tacked on by editors, who therein describe a track which isn't on the released version, haw-haw (but it's contextually significant, perhaps too much so for Shooter's comfort, and that may be why he left it off)
it's lawwng, but it's goood
http://clclt.com/charlotte/dont-put-the-o-back-in-outlaw/Content?oid=2360406

(use of beats etc in "Little White Lines" now seems a forerunner of some tracks on new Sturgill)

But come to think of it, more than irony cutting too close, he might've left it off for not being close enough: though they of course are both influenced by family tradition, as anybody might be, Shooter didn't have the same early childhood experience as Hank Jr: being dressed like Deaddy, led out on stage to sing Deaddy's songs, etc. Whatever else Shooter may be up to, in '05 or since, kid's not selling any alibis. Not that 'un, anyway.

Shooter Jennings does shows all the time with Waymore's Outlaws too, so it isn't like he is running from Dad either. I think Shooter is just a modern eclectic musician that grew up listening to a wide array of things and has a studio at his disposal to have some fun and try different things.