Album Review – Shooter Jennings’ “Shooter”
Just the name “Shooter” elicits strong opinions from people in country music. This is the result of being the son of a country hero whose legacy looms so large, the history of the man himself could never match the mythos. Though country music pedigree may deliver a son or daughter a major shot of attention when they decide to take up the family business, it also comes with unattainable expectations and unfair comparisons always swirling around their output.
The other polarizing aspect surrounding Shooter is his propensity to follow his heart wherever he wishes to go, whether it happens to involve country music, or traverse another path of influence into the wilds of the music world, or even beyond, sometimes asking fans to navigate into places they’re uncomfortable with, losing some on the journey, while perhaps picking others up along the way.
Hank Williams Jr. was saddled with such burdens and ever-present 2nd judgements from a very early age, and was still able to turn in an incredible career that eventually resulted in five separate Entertainer of the Year awards, and one of the most successful runs of any country artist in history. Hank Jr. is also the primary inspiration behind Shooter Jennings’ latest record Shooter, which claims and delivers on the promise of girding its guidance from Bocephus, and bringing that sound and style forward.
The album also comes at a time when Shooter feels like he’s settling into who and what he is as an artist, especially live. Now part of the lucrative and mostly Texas-centric booking agency Red 11, when you head to a Shooter Jennings show, you know a bit more of what to expect, which is a mostly country show with some dalliances with country rock and more progressive stuff with Shooter standing behind a keyboard. He’s become more pragmatic about delivering on what people expect from him as opposed to shirking expectations like 2nd generation performers sometimes feel the need to do. Shooter’s also assembled probably the best band he’s had since the early 357’s, with Ted Russell Kamp back on bass, and fiddle player Aubrey Richmond on the front line helping to keep the music grounded in the roots.
Shooter is meant to be a fun and rockin’ country record, and should be approached as such, and delivers in kind. For fans who wish for Shooter to keep it more country, the album will be more welcomed compared to some of his other projects that stray well off the country reservation. Like Bocephus, this record is energetic and boisterous, but knows when to be measured to make an impact.
Shooter has nine songs, which isn’t a problem in itself. But his cover of “Living In a Minor Key” was first heard on a George Jones tribute he released in 2014. His song “Do You Love Texas” was originally released nearly a year ago as a charity track for Hurricane Harvey relief. That leaves Shooter with only seven new songs, which feels a bit thin.
The songwriting on Shooter feels a bit thin too. “Living In A Minor Key” is probably the best effort on the record, but once again, has been heard before. “Do You Love Texas,” despite its altruistic aims, is a terrible song frankly, stacked with cliches, and outright inexcusable in moments. A line like “Here comes Ft. Worth Fanny, she’s a’ filling out her jeans” should never make it onto a modern-day recording except in parody form. Josh Abbott Band has already blown out all quotas for cliche songs about beer and women in Texas. We don’t need Shooter Jennings joining that bandwagon.
And nobody should name drop the intellectually murderous Alex Jones in a song except to hard cuss his fear-mongering bullshit. And this isn’t for political reasons, as Jones has been unfairly pinned to the “alt-right.” Anyone who claims to be an arbiter of truth and is counteracting the fear of the mainstream media only to sow fear themselves to sell you water filtration systems and legacy seed subscriptions to prepare for the apocalypse is beyond subhuman.
Though “Bound Ta Git Down” gets the blood pumping, anyone can hear how the bones of this song were borrowed greatly from “Born To Boogie” and “The South’s Gonna Do It Again.” “D.R.U.N.K.” has been done a dozen times, just in different forms. It’s at this point in the record where you wonder if we’d all be better off if Shooter avoided country music altogether and did what he wants if he isn’t passionate enough to turn in a better effort.
But Shooter recovers in the 2nd half pretty well, pulling the record out from a subpar effort to slightly above average, at least when measuring it against all of the slop in the mainstream. The record never finds a great moment, and four of the last five song ideas are bridged with “&,” which again seems to hint at Shooter straining to find true inspirations for songs to feed red meat to his country constituency as opposed to composing a country record through his own desires. But these 2nd half songs work, and at times, work well. “Shades & Hues” and “Fast Horses & Good Hideouts” recapture that moment in Hank Jr.’s career when country music and Southern rock were commingling to expose the soul of what makes Southern music so cool. The chorus of Gospel singers also embellish these Shooter efforts well.
Jennings also marks his return to working with producer Dave Cobb on the new record, who along with The Oak Ridge Boys, used Shooter as one of his first test subjects on a production style that has gone on to become the standard mark for much of Americana, even if Cobb’s torrid pace of output has resulted in hit-and-miss results. The production of Shooter is fine, but not the reason you either listen, or fall out of favor with it. The album is cast in the vein of Hank Jr., but it’s fair to point out that at some point Hank Jr. morphed into a caricature of himself. In it’s best moments, Shooter captures the vibe of vintage Bocephus. In others, it cuts too close to when Hank Jr. became country music’s resident blowhard detached from self-awareness.
Shooter Jennings, despite all the forks in the road he’s taken, still commands a decent following, though that following still tends to oversell his efforts, and slander the validity of anyone who may utter a sideways word. It’s 2018, and it’s no longer Shooter, Hank3, and Jamey Johnson leading the country music insurgency. Shooter debuted at #42 on the Country Albums chart, and sold 3,366 copies. Compare this to Cody Jinks’ recent release Lifers, which debuted at #2, and sold 650% more albums than Shooter. That says nothing about what Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, and Blackberry Smoke are doing. No, not everything is about sales, but it’s an illustration of how all of Shooter’s wandering and dalliances have left him on the outside looking into the top names making moves and influencing the greater market in independent country.
All that said, if you want another country record from Shooter Jennings, you get it with Shooter, and not cut with influences from 90’s techno/industrial music, or addled with other unusual sidebars. It’s a fairly well-executed and unspoken tribute to Bocephus run through Shooter’s own influences that despite a couple of missteps and being a little light on material still results in a fun listen, a step in the right direction for Shooter, and helps re-establish and ground him as the son of a legend whose continued participation in the music helps keeps that legacy alive, and if nothing else, stirs discussion to keep things in independent country spicy.
We need Shooter, and the sons and daughters of country legends to help keep all of this moving forward. They are the greatest ambassadors and torch bearers among us. And though it’s unfair to expect them to become tribute acts or fill the shoes of their mothers and fathers directly, it isn’t unfair to ask of them to help keep these legacies alive, especially if they choose music as a profession. With the recent settling in of his live show, and his efforts with Shooter, the younger Jennings proves that despite whatever flaws, he’s still most certainly doing more to keep the spirit of country music alive than whatever is currently wreaking havoc in the mainstream at the moment.
1 1/2 Guns Up (6.5/10)
– – – – – – – – – – –
The Good:
The Bad:
August 27, 2018 @ 8:15 am
Only seven new songs? Did he work with Kanye?
August 27, 2018 @ 8:32 am
“A State of Texas” by Old 97’s is a really good non-cliche song about Texan awesomeness.
August 27, 2018 @ 10:51 am
Todd Snider’s Nashville is the greatest song about Texas awesome-ness. Check it out.
August 28, 2018 @ 7:24 am
How could you narrow it down to even 10? You could fill a 180gb iPod with great songs about Texas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QX7YAAldOo
August 28, 2018 @ 8:48 am
Brings the Austin Lounge Lizards to mind;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPvLD7HSUDY
August 28, 2018 @ 8:53 am
I’m not from Texas, but Texans deserve to be proud of their country, its accomplishments, and its position as (largely) the last place in the US with a live and functioning culture.
August 27, 2018 @ 2:00 pm
Nothing Wrong with Texas by Sweeney does it for me.
August 27, 2018 @ 2:20 pm
That’s a good one too.
August 27, 2018 @ 8:56 am
Definitely in agreement with this review. I downloaded the album on it’s release day and have listened to it, from end to end, a few times since getting the album. I’ve been a big Shooter fan since his first album. This album is pretty good, but I definitely feel it is missing a couple songs. At times, Shooter is a great artist, and other times, he is a bit self indulgent. Haven’t been to a live show since the Black Ribbons Tour (which the Hell’s Angel’s were working security or so it seemed in Greenville, SC). I think “Shades and Hues” and “Fast Horses and Good Hideouts” are the two standout tracks here IMO. I feel like this album is just what you said “A Good Time album”, just a step away from a throwaway album, and miles away from “The Pressure is On”. Shooter loses me on some the electronic music, but this is a step back in the right direction for me anyways(away from the Black Ribbons/Giorgio music).
August 27, 2018 @ 8:57 am
The only weird thing to me is Dave Cobb’s involvement. It seems unnecessary on this project that seems to be a collection of live show feeder material? I assume he’s on board for reasons other than making bank, though. But then I don’t always have a handle on that type of shit.
It seems like Shooter has a handle on the live stuff though, so he should be fine. He don’t need no stinking Grammys.
August 27, 2018 @ 9:11 am
I’m actually surprised that Dave Cobb and Shooter Jennings didn’t reunite sooner simply because they both started their careers together. Calling this a record of “live show feeder material” is a very good way to put it. A lot of these songs will be fun live even if as album songs they feel a little light on substance.
August 27, 2018 @ 10:04 am
Agree….btw I think this record’s sound, maybe not production choices such as playing live, etc, but the sound is a bit of a departure from his more well known records. It sounds more Motown and more so 70s Country to me. By that I don’t just mean the arrangements of horns on the first song…sonically it seems much more compressed and “wall of sound” than his usual stuff, with the bass super up front. Anyway, it works well with these songs. Just my 2 cents.
August 27, 2018 @ 8:57 am
Great review.
Presumably all the country music fans posting about TT/ML will be reading it and commenting soon, right?
August 27, 2018 @ 9:12 am
don’t know shooter’s music ( disclaimer )
couple thoughts though : 9-10 songs is what a release should be , in these times , I think .
saying that , if you can’t come up with 9 terrific , expressive , well-crafted , fresh songs on a 9 song record you’re probably in the wrong racket .
i’m not particularly a fan of dave cobb’s hands-off production but its probably the right way to go with THIS artist and THIS material . it has an in-the-moment , somewhat jammy ( unpolished) don’t-overthink–overplay , overwrite or over-sing vibe about it ( Waylon ) . ( I know, I know …I’ve exceeded my hyphen allowance …..) which certainly hasn’t been undermined by an over-the-top production
my thoughts with just about any artist whether country , americana , pop or some science-fiction fusion of the above ( FGL , Keith Urban ) is that if I don’t resonate with the vocalist the production or lack there-of, unfortunately the writing , as good as it may or not be is not gonna be enough to make me listen . i’m not feeling shooter’s vocals . yeah they have a Waylon-esque ( I’m sorry ..I’ll use fewer hyphens in my next post ) quality ….but they aren’t Cody Johnson or Mark Chestnut country and for me those guys are at the high water mark in that respect .
that’s all i got since , as i said , i’m not as familiar with SJ as i probably should be before commenting on just two songs . i will add though that this , to my ear, is country music and as such i’m happy its out there keeping young ears aware of that fact .
August 27, 2018 @ 5:58 pm
William Elliott Whitmore’s classic Southern Record releases were 8 songs.
August 27, 2018 @ 9:31 am
Shooter was my gateway into non-mainstream modern country. Been a fan for a good while now.
My main complaint with the album was that it’s too short. I wish the non-album singles “Coming Home” (from the Ranch) and “Nashville from Afar” would have been included, as they both kinda fit the themes of the album. Granted, that wouldn’t have added any more NEW songs, but I think it would have added positively to the album’s overall feel.
So it’s not my favorite Shooter album, but i still think it’s damn good.
August 27, 2018 @ 10:02 am
Living in a Minor Key is NOT a cover!
August 27, 2018 @ 10:23 am
“Living In A Minor Key” is a great song, but it had been released before. No knock on the song at all, just pointing out that it has been previously heard.
August 29, 2018 @ 8:12 am
I found that to be confusingly worded as well. Reworked re-release of his own song, but not a cover since he’s the original artist.
August 29, 2018 @ 8:30 am
I agree. That’s why I reworded that portion of the review a bit when the concern was brought up.
August 27, 2018 @ 10:37 am
On the same page with this review. None of the singles released before the album really grabbed me. “Denim and Diamonds” was my favorite song off this album. I just saw Shooter a couple weeks ago and yes, his current lineup of musicians in his band is awesome. Very tight band. I liked them better than when I saw him live with Waymore’s Outlaws.
August 27, 2018 @ 10:46 am
Fair review. It’s a fun “goof off” sort of album. Songwriting is definitely thin at the start (“Bound Ta Git Down”, though hard to hate, sounds like mid-90’s Brian Setzer or something), but gets better toward the end.
My favorite here is the closer, “Denim & Diamonds.” The combination of sinister mood and instrumentation (70’s coke rock – can’t quite place the influence. Eagles, Joe Walsh maybe) and lyrics about a down-and-out waitress who will not be stopped (in fact, will fight you if you try) from going dancing at the end of a hard week is compelling to me. Like, just getting through the week and going dancing is an absolutely dead serious endeavor. Also, those drum triplets. I like ’em.
Recently saw Shooter live, for the first time. The show was really good. A lot of fun. Shooter’s vocals and playing were good, with some real stand-out playing from the rest of the band. Was nervous about it, since tickets were really expensive, but I went home happy (and drunk).
August 27, 2018 @ 10:52 am
I would definitively call Shooter a good but not great album. That said “Denim and Diamonds” is one of my favorite songs this year.
August 27, 2018 @ 11:22 am
I’ve only heard fast horses and good hideouts, but if that’s considered one of the better entries on this album, then I think I’ll sit this one out.
August 27, 2018 @ 12:11 pm
The album didn’t do it for me, but I know lots of folks who love Shooter live. I appreciate some of what he has done, such as help get Sturgill’s career started.
August 27, 2018 @ 12:33 pm
I can’t hear his name without immediately thinking of the cringe inducing “Outlaw You”, and I kind of wrote Shooter off after that mess of a song.
But if “Do You Love Texas” is the worst this outing has to offer, I’m compelled to at least give the rest of the album a listen. I’ve found something to love on albums with worse lows, so perhaps the there will be a payoff in the highs of “Shooter”.
August 27, 2018 @ 2:20 pm
“Outlaw You,” cringe inducing? Sure, but at least the message is righteous. How about “The Gunslinger”? “You better keep your eye/ On my motherfucking trigger finger/ Do you feel me punk/ Do you feel me punk?. . . .” I hadn’t heard that one before, but heard it live recently and was just like “wtf, is this serious?”
It was hilarious and over the top, but fun in context (same with “Outlaw You”). Shooter and the band gave it their all. We rode the whole way home singing “Gunslinger” in the car. I think Shooter is best enjoyed with a huge grain of salt. The guy has impossibly big shoes to fill, so why try? I think a lot of his stuff is meant to be tongue in check. Right? At least I hope so.
August 27, 2018 @ 3:51 pm
Be careful bringing up “The Gunslinger” around here.
August 27, 2018 @ 4:34 pm
Oh, damn. My bad. Just did a search. I knew there was some odd drama but forgot that this song was part of it. I took this song as dumb posturing – like almost any hip-hop song (for example). That’s why my initial reaction hearing it live was “is this serious?” In my mind I thought, no. No disrespect intended.
August 27, 2018 @ 5:29 pm
No worries or offense on my end. Just thought I’d give a heads up just in case.
August 28, 2018 @ 7:49 am
I’m out of the loop on this one. Could you share with me the link that informed you about this “drama”? If there’s a topic that needs to avoided in the conversations here, I definitely want to be aware of it. Thanks.
August 28, 2018 @ 8:57 am
Nevermind, I got off my lazy ass and googled/researched it myself. Totally understand the issue and the sensitivity around it now.
August 31, 2018 @ 6:34 am
Gunslinger free zone haha
August 27, 2018 @ 6:34 pm
It’s not the message that I found cringe inducing, it was the delivery, which was just…well. Bad. Really bad. It takes some serious level of skill as a lyricist and vocalist to pull off that type of song without sounding silly, and Shooter came up short. Additionally, I find the practice of artists using songs to criticize other artists very disrespectful to the fans. Save that bullshit for your Twitter page. Or better yet, if you have a problem with another artist say it to their face. Don’t take cheap shots at them from the safety of your recording studio. Diss tracks are bullshit. Their cowardly and a waste of my time and money as a fan. I don’t buy albums to hear your beef with other musicians. I want to hear songs I can relate to.
August 28, 2018 @ 7:14 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2QCORi-u0U
August 28, 2018 @ 7:45 am
A perfect example of a vocalist wasting a great piece of music with lyrics that are nothing more than a childish tirade against his “enemies”. If he had written this song in 2017 it would probably be subtitled “Fake News”.
Axl did the same thing with “Right Next Door To Hell”, but he was more clever with his wording on this one. You had to following his feud with his neighbors in the news catch the reference.
August 28, 2018 @ 6:39 am
Everyone wants a song with a message or meaning, until they don’t..
Gunslinger is a good song. I had to search here to find the “problem” someone mention. What absurd paranoia… And not by Shooter, by the way
August 28, 2018 @ 3:02 pm
“Paranoia” had nothing to do with it. When Shooter Jennings released “The Gunslinger,” I received multiple death threats from Shooter fans, and I have the evidence to prove it. Seems like insisting that folks don’t take music so seriously that they’re threatening to assault or kill people is probably something we can universally agree on, especially since we’re seeing so many people lose perspective these days, just like what happened at a Madden tournament a couple of days ago. I don’t call that “paranoia.” I was never afraid.
And if you question just how deep the hatred some Shooter fans had for me, appreciate that Colter Wall’s former drummer who was the boyfriend of the former girlfriend of Shooter Jennings’ former manager left a threat in the comments section on this very website for all to see using his full name, then took to social media to brag about it, and on a pretty glowing review for Colter Wall just last year.
I recused myself from covering Shooter Jennings for a few years due to all the acrimony surrounding my coverage of him, which is unfortunate because he’s an important part of the independent country music world. I’ve been pleased that I was able to post this review, give my honest opinion, and it not result in death threats, etc. This is a very positive sign.
August 27, 2018 @ 3:12 pm
“Hey pretty boy with the baseball bat
You couldn’t hit country with a baseball bat”.
I think you could replace everything Trigger has ever written with that one line.
August 29, 2018 @ 6:18 am
In Trigger’s review of the song, I remember him saying something to the effect of “at least somebody is showing some leadership.”
August 29, 2018 @ 6:55 am
I double checked and that “leadership” quote that I’m remembering was from his first article on the “XXX” genre/movement in my early days of reading this site. He did give this song a fair amount of praise at a later point, though.
August 29, 2018 @ 8:50 am
“Outlaw You” got a “Two Guns Way Up” or 10/10 review, which of course refutes this idea that I have some inherent bias against Shooter. I think it’s a good song, and an important one.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/shooter-jennings-fires-big-shot-with-outlaw-you/
I think “The Gunslinger” poses the worst hip-hop style chest-thumping bellicose blow-hardness, though I also recognize it’s a monster of a song.
August 27, 2018 @ 6:10 pm
The whole point of outlaw you was to be offensive, he was trying to make a point about how terrible country music in the mainstream is.
August 27, 2018 @ 6:37 pm
But it wasn’t offensive. It was just lame. Like when your grandpa tries to gangsta rap. And his dentures pop out out and land in rice pudding. That kind of lame.
August 28, 2018 @ 7:44 am
This is how you make fun of another “artist:”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnTO7rTf2cM
August 28, 2018 @ 9:14 am
After educating myself on a certain topic involving Shooter, one of his songs, and this blog and it’s author, I’m retracting my stated intention to give his new album a listen.
Best of luck to Shooter with his new music, and no ill will towards any of his fans or anyone here who chooses to support him and listen to his music. This is a strictly personal decision and not a judgement on anyone else’s music tastes.
August 28, 2018 @ 9:11 pm
LOL… This post is Just loaded with snow.
August 29, 2018 @ 6:38 am
The snow started late Friday afternoon and everyone struggled driving home. Cars moved funereally up the cul-de-sac, turning into driveways, into garage doors opening like mouths. It snowed through the night while the people slept and they woke to ten inches and it was still coming down, drifting and swirling now, up against the north sides of the houses and the fences and you could only see the smoke coming from the chimneys and the muffled, jaundiced light from the windows. Nobody emerged, no garage doors opened, even the children stayed inside and oh the novelty of it, everyone had prepared and bought treats and snacks and brought home stacks of DVDs from the video store and stayed in their pajamas and played board games and the parents said isn’t this great, we’re spending time together as a family. Patio tables resembled huge, frosted layer cakes and second story windows were blocked from the snow on the roof. Finally on Sunday just before dusk, the snow stopped and the sun shone a weary, sputtery light on the horizon and the people started to come out of their houses, thickly bundled, with their shovels and their snow blowers. They waved to each other from across the cul-de-sac and called, isn’t this something? But it’s good exercise! And the driveways and the sidewalks were cleared and in the morning the snowplow cleared the roads and every cul-de-sac then had its own private mountain and the children climbed it and tunneled through it and slid down it and they made forts and pummeled each other with snowballs and the brilliant sun shone strong and the people marveled at the pristine beauty of it all, of white snow against a blue china plate sky and then come Friday the clouds rolled in the forecasters broadly smiling said more was on the way and by Friday afternoon it was coming down hard, again, and the people shook their heads in line at the grocery store and at the liquor store and said things like, here we go again! And laughed as they walked away with bottles of wine and expensive liqueurs to warm the blood. Must stock up on essentials, they said. And by ten o’clock the Patterson’s front door was completely blocked. Jenny Patterson phoned her neighbor across the cul-de-sac. Look out your window, she said. Can you believe this? They laughed and talked about what they were going to eat and drink that night, trading recipes. Saturday it was still snowing and the children who had siblings were fighting and the children without siblings were crabby from having no one to play with, so the parents bundled their children and told them to go outside, but stay close to the house. All the snowmen now had large, erect penises and rictus smiles on their faces. The snow was drifting as high as ten feet in some places and those who emerged to shovel only nodded to each other grimly through their balaclavas. Margaret Grayson was standing at her kitchen sink when she heard a muffled noise and looked out the window and saw her son Josh up to his neck in snow and screaming. She could not get the window open to yell out to him but sent her older son out to rescue Josh. The older son dragged a toboggan up the snowdrift, the snow coming to above his knees, lifting a leg and plunking it down, lifting plunking doggedly as Josh continued to scream and cry. The older brother stopped and buried his hands into the snow and under Josh’s armpits and pulled him straight up and out of the snowdrift. One of Josh’s boots came off in the snow, the brother couldn’t retrieve it. He put Josh on the toboggan and pulled him by its rope down the snowdrift and back around to the front of the house.The weather repeated itself the next weekend and the weekend after that. The parents laughed and poured amber liqueur into their snifters. Let’s invite the neighbors, let’s feast against the winter and so they put twelve year old Annelise in charge of all the kids. The neighbors came over on snowshoes with poles in their hands and their children strapped to their backs. Inside, they shed their gear and sent all the children to the basement with Annelise, who had never been in charge of anyone besides her little brother, Cal, before. All twelve children sent to the basement and the music was turned up loud and the adults did shots and cursed the snow and Bill Watley pissed out the back door, watching to see if his yellow stream would harden into ice in mid-air.
It did not.
The snow covered the windows and blocked the front door and the adults laughed and danced and paired off while Annelise corralled the children and the babies and the toddlers in the basement. She made them all watch “Oceans Eleven”, even the baby, propped up with pillows, and crept upstairs and stole a bottle of spiced rum and took it back down and sat in the flickering light of the big screen and took little sips every time one of the children whined and little Logan crawled on top of her when she passed out and stuck her finger in Annelise’s nose and the snow continued to fall for days and they all stayed in the same house. The couples paired and re-paired and the children came up and raided the cupboards and the fridge and ate standing up, at a loss, and after awhile the snowplows didn’t bother to come and the newspapers stopped the presses and the mail ceased and the cold moon rose over the wide expanse of frozen, crusted snow every night until seven months later when it had finally melted off, and the light-up Christmas deer and the light-up Christmas angels emerged whole and undamaged and Josh Grayson’s boot lay on the cool, frightened grass but nobody looked for it and nobody cared.
August 29, 2018 @ 6:09 pm
so what you are saying is; you just aren’t bright….. we get it.
August 29, 2018 @ 7:26 pm
Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art—
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night,
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like Nature’s patient sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors—
No—yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever—or else swoon to death.
August 27, 2018 @ 4:57 pm
I’m an admitted Shooter fan. I like this album. It’s country…. has some fun songs, a silly song or two and several good/very good ones.
I’ll take it over 99.56% of the crap out there in the mainstream.
Fair enough review by Trigger.
Do you love Texas ??? Hell yeah…. so do I !!!!
August 27, 2018 @ 5:34 pm
Saw him play at Pappy & Harriets the night this album was released. It was great in a live context. I also loved Black Ribbons (as a rock album) however.
August 27, 2018 @ 5:52 pm
I need to get out to Pappy’s one of these days. It’s a couple hours from me but seems like worth the drive.
August 28, 2018 @ 6:02 am
I think it would be. I don’t live in the State but was visiting nearby and happened to see this show listed. An interesting venue, for sure. I didn’t have the opportunity to try the restaurant.
August 28, 2018 @ 9:29 am
Been there a bunch, on trips out to CA. Every time I’ve been (both summer and winter) it’s packed. Like, at least an hour wait for a table. Gotta go early. Well worth it, though. Food and vibe are good.
The Joshua Tree area is great, and there’s a bit of odd country/rock history there:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Gram_Parsons
The Rancho De La Luna recording studio is there too, primarily rock based. Don’t try to visit though, there are signs all around warning “trespassers will be shot on sight”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rancho_De_La_Luna
August 27, 2018 @ 7:38 pm
Josh Abbott Band. Ugh…
August 27, 2018 @ 8:14 pm
I like this album. I agree with Warthog that adding “Coming Home” and “Nashville from Afar” would have help round out the short re inning time and fit the rest of the album. I am hoping he sticks with country for his next record and goes straight into the studio with his current live band. I think Shooter and Cobb make a good pair in the studio.
August 28, 2018 @ 1:42 am
where’s Michael Jackson Montgomery? i want know what he thinks of this album
August 28, 2018 @ 6:11 am
Whatever happened to that guy? He had such promise.
August 28, 2018 @ 11:57 am
had the world by the short and curlies and a cosign but the internet’s hippest alt country blogger. smh..it’s a damn shame nothing panned out there
August 28, 2018 @ 3:36 am
I’ve listened…its a good album…not equal to “Put the “O’ back in Country” or “Electric Rodeo” but it’s fun and in a country rockin’ Style.
August 28, 2018 @ 4:34 am
you nailed the review.
It’s really the first Shooter album I’ve spent any time with since Electric Rodeo!
August 28, 2018 @ 6:28 am
Im a huge Shooter fan and agree with alot of points in this review but i personally give it a good solid 8. I definitely pick a strong Bocephus and at times maybe Bad Company vibe. As you said its just a fun record to jam to, nothing more nothing less. Step in the right direction for Shooter no doubt. Love Rhinestone Eyes.
August 28, 2018 @ 12:35 pm
I bought an album of his in the past–“Put the O Back in Country.” It didn’t grab me. I’m not going to buy this one simply because it’s Shooter Jennings.
August 28, 2018 @ 5:47 pm
Although he’s something of a household name these days, I had not heard his material before. The two tracks offered up with the review seemed quite good to me, so I reckon I might go look for more. As ever, a big thanks to you Trigger!
August 29, 2018 @ 6:11 am
Its a fun album, not a great album.
August 29, 2018 @ 7:18 am
On a song by song basis, I couldn’t agree with your review more. This isn’t a great album, but it is enjoyable in parts. Shooter is still probably my favorite active artist, but I’m more than willing to admit that his output is very hit or miss. I actually enjoy his non-country projects the most, with “Black Ribbons”, “Countach”, and “Don’t Wait Up” being in my top five of his releases. If we’re talking about who’s the most relevant in the current state of non-mainstream country, it’s inarguable that Shooter isn’t near the top (Sturgill’s my guy there, but Stapleton obviously has the numbers).
That being said, your anti-Shooter bias remains as clear as it ever was, and you treat him differently than you would just about anyone else. Your line, “it isn’t unfair to ask of them to help keep these legacies alive, especially if they choose music as a profession”, is ridiculous. You seem to be saying that because he’s the son of a country music icon, Shooter shouldn’t try to be anything but country if he’s going to be a singer. I’ll allow that this probably makes a bit of sense coming from a site called Saving Country Music, but country doesn’t exist in isolation, and I don’t see why it’s artists should have to, either. I’m sure he knows that some of his detours are to the detriment of his popularity (particularly among his dad’s fans), and he does it anyway. I see that as worthy of respect, not disdain.
In the past you’ve referred to Shooter’s fandom as a “cult of personality”, and while I don’t like to think of it that way, for me it probably isn’t untrue. I like him because I see him as being like myself. He has a deep appreciation for classic country but is also a child of the late ’80s and early ’90s who loves electronic sounds and old video games, and isn’t afraid to incorporate these influences. That just happens to be right in my wheelhouse. I don’t see why a review of one of his most country projects must include paragraphs only intended to throw shade on some of his other influences that don’t even appear on this album.
Regardless of my disagreement with parts of this review, though, I really appreciate what you do, and I’ve been a daily reader of your site for years. Thanks!
August 29, 2018 @ 8:46 am
” You seem to be saying that because he’s the son of a country music icon, Shooter shouldn’t try to be anything but country if he’s going to be a singer.”
That was not what I was trying to say, though I can understand how it could be taken that way. As I said in the review, I think it’s unfair to task 2nd or 3rd generation artists to act as museum pieces of their parents or grandparents as some fans want. But you can advocate for preserving a legacy without doing it directly through your music. You can also do it through your music as well, which can help the country cause. It is my job to be an advocate for country music, and the preservation of country’s legacy, and so I am always going to root for artists like Shooter Jennings (and others) to keep it country. But I also think it’s important to recognized they’re their own people, and have to carve their own path through life.
I often see people say they like Shooter’s non country stuff more, and I tend to agree that may be his greatest output. Some of my favorite songs of his are from “Black Ribbons.” And I think that’s because this is where Shooter is more passionate. So even though the country advocate and Waylon fan in me wants Shooter to stick to country, my critical ear recognizes that his passions and expertise probably don’t fit solely in the country realm. This is what leads to the complicated nature of my take on Shooter Jennings.
August 29, 2018 @ 11:06 am
Can name dozens of great songs about Texas and never even been there, I’ve tried to like everything he’s done bc some of his early stuff turned me onto a lot of other great artists, but frankly it’s just gotten worse & worse. Major let down imo especially after thinking he was gonna cut q decent country sounding album.
The damn Texas song and DRUNK kept coming on my spotify playlists and I finally had to unfollow him so as to not have to skip thru those shitty songs. I respect this review tho as I know there’s a history between his camp and SCM…
that being said, all this album did f9r me was confirm that no matter how much money, production or talent you throw at an album u still can’t buy heart, experience or true, raw talent. Came at this with an open and hopeful mind btw, just to be clear