Album Review – Lance Roark’s “Bad Reputation”

Red Dirt (#550.7) and Country Rock (#560) on the Country DDS.

Get ready to make room on your Red Dirt depth chart somewhere near the top for Lance Roark. If you’ve been roaming around these parts for a while, you’ve been warned to keep an eye on the name. But with his official debut album Bad Reputation, Roark vaults forward from a crumb crunching “one to watch” in the peloton of Texas/Red Dirt prospects, to a full blown featured artist who should be headlining his own shows sooner than later. This dude’s got “it.”

The main point of reference many might have for Roark is his affiliation with the Turnpike Troubadours as a featured songwriter, first co-writing the song “Chipping Mill” on their comeback album Cat in the Rain, and then “Ruby Ann” on their latest album The Price of Admission. He wrote the songs with some guy named Ralph Casey Edwards, and also happened to co-write the song “Grace” on the new Muscadine Bloodline album.

But enough name dropping, Bad Reputation is all about Lance Roark roaring out of the shadows to make a name all his own. Yes, the sound crafted by Lance and producer Andrew Bair is reminiscent of the Turnpike Troubadours. After all, Roark is from the same hometown of Tahlequah, Oklahoma. But the album also finds Lance settling into his own unique take on the Oklahoma sound, dialing in his songwriting, and finding the sweet spot for his voice to seamlessly integrate with the stories of heartbreak he sings about.

Bad Reputation is just one of those albums you cue up, listen to straight through, and then re-rack again. There’s not a snoozer in the bunch, and each song hits you as immediately infectious, but durable in its long-term appeal. Similar to his 2024 EP Tenkiller, there is a lot of rock in Roark’s sound, which comes expected in the Red Dirt realm, if not required. But what helps set this album off and yet ground it to the country roots is the spirited fiddle that makes an appearance on most tracks.

From the high energy moments of the first song “Lucky Penny” with the little stutter in the rhythm, you’re sold hard on what Lance is serving up. Roark’s writing is not as involved as let’s say Evan Felker or John Moreland. It’s more obvious than nuanced, and strives first to entertain as opposed to dig for repressed emotions. But just like everything else with Bad Reputation, it’s the consistency at a high level throughout the record that makes Roark’s songwriting commendable.

The energy and enthusiasm Roark and his band is able to instill in these recordings is a big part of the appeal. At times the record goes into full-blown rock territory, most splendidly on “Heartbreak Getaway,” co-written by that Ralph Casey Edwards guy again. The instrumentation on the album doesn’t hold back. There are some excellent individual solos and performances from guitar, fiddle, piano on an album that you can tell will be killer live.

It not just all bluster though. “Melissa Texas” is named for the town just north of Dallas that many Red Dirt folks are familiar with since it links eastern Oklahoma via Hwy 75, and the song showcases some of the involved nature of Lance’s writing. So does a song like “Rose Quartz Perfume,” underscoring how it’s our sense of smell that is most associated with memory. “I Could Love You” finds some emotionally roiling moments with its uncommon use of chords, punctuated by a blazing guitar solo.

Don’t take “consistent” to mean “the same” about the songs on this album. Bad Reputation presents a range of textures and emotions, including the final acoustic song “Stay,” which sells you on Lance Roark the singer and songwriter, if no other song could. From high energy, anthemic rock songs, to sincere country ballads, Roark was patient in officially presenting his debut album to the planet, forging his own sound, finding the unique contours of his voice, and making his case for being Red Dirt’s next star.

8.3/10

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