Album Review – “Hayes and the Heathens” (Self-Titled)

#570 (Americana) on the Country DDS.

There are few things more titillating than word coming down that two of your favorite performers are teaming up in the studio together. Bluegrass records from country artists get us going too. But in truth, these projects often cobble together orphans and oddballs left on the cutting house floor from other albums, and end up as something both artists regard more as a side project.

That’s not how Hayes and the Heathens shakes out. Hayes Carll and the Band of Heathens have been around for 20 years or so now, with both sitting down in that era of their career where they’re nowhere near the hot new thing, nor are they enjoying legendary status. You’re just trying to keep the thing going and pointed in the right direction. What they prove with this collaboration is that banding together reignited the creative juices, and resulted in something greater than the sum of its parts.

This album reminds you of the albums of old when artist felt required to touch the full range of human emotions on an LP, and in 10 songs or less. Enough of these 30-song albums by some Gen Z’er that just dumped their iPhone voice memos into Pro Tools with one droning breakup ballad after another. With Hayes and the Heathens, you laugh, you cry, you think, and you’re entertained. What a novel concept.

Ed Jurdi, Gordy Quist, and the rest the Band of Heathens have been doing this for too damn long to still be able to conjure up a song as great as “Water From The Holy Grail.” The writing and melody on this track is something that would have made it into a college radio super hit years ago.

“Adeline” written and sung by Hayes Carll might be one of the best songs of his career, no kidding. It sounds like something Dylan would’ve composed in his Greenwich Village era. Carll’s “Nothing To Do With Your Love” is a bit more roguish, like a song Ray Wylie Hubbard would sing with the scintillating line, “You carried the answers in the curve of your hips.”

Also, this album is some serious Austin, TX stuff. Pretty sure Hayes moved on from Austin years ago, but this sounds and feels like an Austin record. The only thing that would make this more Austin is if this soundtracked a Richard Linklater film. Terry Licona over at Austin City Limits should get off his duff and book this yesterday as opposed to Jelly Roll or whatever the hell they’re showcasing these days.

And most importantly, Hays and the Heathens don’t forget to have a little fun, which is what you wanted from them when you first heard about this project. This album takes itself seriously when in needs to, but also lets loose. Covering “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers is the kind of garage band stuff collaborations like this are made for.

Frankly though, the opening song “Nobody Dies From Weed” is just another dumb pot song that might seem relevant to Gen X’ers, but barely to anyone else. In an era when the majority of Americans are living where marijuana is decriminalized, approved for medicinal purposes, or outright legal, you’re preaching to a choir here. Here’s to hoping for the time when weed is legal everywhere so these songs aren’t necessary.

At only eight tracks with a couple of silly moments, you’re not getting a lot of volume here. But you do get some great songs and enjoyable moments that might have never happened outside of this collaboration, or might have not come together so well. Where sometimes these pairings can be a bit deflating (I still want my money back for Dylan and The Dead), Hayes and the Heathens delivers.

8/10

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