Album Review – Dan Lepien’s “The Honky Tonk Traditional”

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#510 (Traditional country) on the Country DDS.

Oh bless this guy’s heart. He thinks it’s still 1990 and you can release a country record without any snap tracks, trap beats, tractor rapping, Auto-tune, or other wiggety wah wah and still get people to go wild over it. Doesn’t he know that steel guitar and fiddle are passé and tired, and a song isn’t done until it’s been passed around between seven different writers on a zoom call?

Apparently, Dan Lepien is perfectly unaware of all of these requisites for modern country, and also thinks that classic ol’ country song themes can still pass the muster with present-day audiences. And he’s proudly from Wisconsin? That won’t fly for a country music origin story, nor will a name like “Dan Lepien.” He should change it to Chase Steelsaddle, or something. That’s got a ring to it.

But plain ol’ Dan Lepien from Sauk City, WI doesn’t seem too interested in any of these concerns about him or his music. Instead he’s focused on what true country should sound like, and trying to keep those traditions alive. So with ten original tunes and a voice born to sing traditional country, he presents The Honky Tonk Traditional.

Don’t expect anything too fancy, and most definitely don’t expect anything unexpected to come flying out of left field like a drum loop breakdown or a hip-hop collaboration. In fact, the opening song “Country Proud” is all about Lepien’s unabashed allegiance to country music.


The subject of country music itself comes into play regularly on the album, from finding solace in the old classics on “Jukebox My Troubles Away,” to perhaps the best-written and most poignant song on the album, “I Killed Country Music”—and don’t get worried by the title. The lyrical hook comes with a great plot twist.

But to emulate great country music, you can’t just pay homage, you have to contribute your own. “Neon Dream” is a fun little honky tonk tune, while Dan Lepien tries his hand with the old country tradition of weaving words back on themselves in the song “She’s Gone For Good (And I’ll Be Good When I’m Gone).”

The greatest thing about the album is also the one thing you can bring up as a concern. It’s so straight ahead traditional country, it doesn’t exactly present anything entirely unique or novel, even if the songwriting is original enough, and the instrumentation/production is spot on. But that’s when you get when your top priority is preserving tradition.

To support the album, Dan Lepien is embarking on a 12-city tour … of Wisconsin. Well, and one date in Illinois. And if you don’t think you can be country while being based in Wisconsin, Dan Lepien is here to prove you wrong, just like he proves how like a good pair of jeans or cowboy boots, true country music never goes out of style.

I want royalties if he changes his name to Chase Steelsaddle though.

1 3/4 Guns Up (8/10)

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