Hank Jr. is back with an album that leans a whole lot closer to Hank I than Hank III. The title explains it all and this is an old school Country Rocker of an album that makes no excuses for it’s pedigree. The opening track is a twin bladed anthem about getting back to his roots both musically and politically and again makes no apologies on the way.
I missed Hank Jr. the first time round as I was still hooked on John Denver and Peter, Paul and Mary but I always had a sneaky desire to grab a bottle and head off shit-kickin’ in his direction. This album gave me a chance to redeem myself and try a bit of Bocephus philosophy. And I quite liked it.
Ten tracks by Hank Jr., One by Hank Sr. and one by Merle is not a bad tally. The Bocephus songs are written in the style of his Daddy and with the similarity in lyrics and melodies I found myself drifting off in the direction of the originals rather than their new livery. At first I was very uncomfortable with his melody shift on my favourite Hank Sr. song You Win Again but on second or third listen I was able to take it as served.
With an all-star A List band and the old Hank Jr. treatment then it’s hard to see this one fail. And from the reaction to a very well orchestrated Facebook campaign to coincide with it’s launch the demand for hard core country rock is way more obvious than is seen by today’s Country Radio.
At the very least give this one a listen. I think you might by pleasantly surprised. As with Toby Keith I find his hard core right wing politics just a little to strident for my European palate but it really does make for some passionate lyrics and hard driving southern country rock.
Bocephus is back with a bang.