Album Review – Sunny Sweeney’s “Rhinestone Requiem”

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photo: Nash Nouveau

Honky Tonk (#510.2) on the Country DDS.

Oh hell yeah. Pour this out over rocks or take it straight. Find some skins and roll it up. Crush it and line it up on the back of a CD case. Cook it up in a spoon and load it up in a needle. However you take it, go hard into Sunny Sweeney’s Rhinestone Requiem, and forgo the moderation. It just might cause you to suffer a honky tonk relapse. But it’s so worth it.

Sorry to be triggering to any teetotalers out there, but Rhinestone Requiem is Sunny Sweeney in her most purified form. Time and pressure, endless touring and multiple divorces, it’s all conspired to forge Sunny Sweeney into a genuine honky tonk maven. All that time spinning records on her SiriusXM shows via Outlaw Country and Willie’s Roadhouse probably didn’t hurt either, putting Sweeney it touch with all those old legends.

Sure, Sunny did her stint in Nashville on Big Machine Records. She played the game, recorded pop-leaning songs trying to get the radio to pay attention. But that’s all in the past now, and through the second half of her career, she’s only continued to get more and more country, until all that’s left is Sweeney’s strong honky tonk influences. Co-produced with her right hand man Harley Husbands, Rhinestone Requiem would work perfectly as an audio encyclopedia entry for classic honky tonk country.

It’s not just the sound, it’s the songs. Sweeney co-wrote eight of the ten tracks, and there are some real gems in here you’d swear were classics from back in the ’70s. “Houston Belongs To Me” co-written with Brennen Leigh is the perfect specimen of heartbreak country, utilizing geography to craft a story most all can relate to. “I Drink Well with Others” and “Half Lit in 3/4 Time” are excellent examples of country drinking songs that would have been big hits back in a better era of country radio.


To sing it with conviction and honesty, you need to have lived it. “Diamonds and Divorce Decrees” is one of those songs for Sunny Sweeney, ripped straight from her biography. “As Long as There’s a Honky Tonk” might as well be a documentary of Sweeney’s life, talking about walking away from the “Big Machine,” playing on the Grand Ole Opry, and always being at home on the road and playing for folks in local haunts.

Sunny Sweeney could spend her time being envious of the artist who made it to arenas and mansions. She did her time opening for big acts, and got her taste of that for sure. But instead, she’s embraced the honky tonk way of life, not just in sound, but in attitude. The songs of Rhinestone Requiem are of the honky tonks, and for the honky tonks, and the people that love to hear country music in their local watering hole where the performers are right there in front of you, and real.

Classic and honky tonk country are definitely coming back into favor thanks to the new, younger crop of performers coming up and embracing the sound and influences. We’ve seen some more established artists misread this moment, and decide to zig while country is zagging. Not Sunny. If you’re into the revivalist sounds of Zach Top and Jake Worthington, there’s no reason you won’t find appeal in Rhinestone Requiem too.

You could regard Sunny Sweeney as a veteran of the game. But listening through Rhinestone Requiem, the boldness of its audio flavors, and the passion brought to the songwriting, it gives you a sense that her career is just now in its peak. She’s making some of the most compelling country music of her career, and songs that will withstand the test of time because classic country like this is timeless.

Go Sunny!

8.2/10

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Purchase/stream Rhinestone Requiem


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