Album Review- Wayne Hancock’s “Ride”
Wayne Hancock has more handles than a chester drawers: The Train, The King Of Juke Joint Swing, The Father of Underground Country, The Viper of Melody. He deserves every single one of them, yet none of them nor all of them combined seem to do justice to the enjoyment and influence his music has dispensed over the years.
A new Wayne Hancock album is like a gift from the country music gods; the same gods that bestowed upon him the capacity to be the closest living thing you can find to Hank Williams today (according to Hank Williams III among others), yet still be a wholly unique artist who finds himself in the very exclusive ranks of true music originators–those rare musical souls who’ve germinated their own genres and genealogy trees full of new artists inspired by their work.
Wayne Hancock Just Wants to “Ride” (an interview)
Ride is probably Wayne Hacock’s most personal album to date, released after what might be the most tumultuous period in his career. Immediately after the street date of his last album in 2009 Viper of Melody, Hancock lost his band in the aftermath of a skirmish between his guitar player and steel player. This set to spinning a revolving door of touring players that still has yet to fully settle, though has showcased some extraordinary talent along the way. Then there was the cancelling of some tour dates and a rehab stint, then a separation from his wife. Then another rehab stint. All of this drama is contained in Ride in both candid and veiled references.
“I had a good gal, that I loved so. We got married, not to long ago. But then my drinking got in the way. So she left me, a year ago today,” Wayne says in “Best To Be Alone.”
Wayne Hancock has a track record since 1995 of only putting out quality releases. Go ahead, take the magnifying glass and the tweezers out and poke around his discography all you want. You may not sit right with his style, but Wayne is a master at what he does. By featuring top shelf players and a fairly straightforward methodology, Wayne knocked out Ride in 1 1/2 days; jaw dropping for even some of the best performers. People of note joining Wayne on the recording are long-time producer Lloyd Maines, and Bob Stafford, also known as “Texaco” that you can hear Hancock calling out to Bob Wills-style in some of his most legendary recordings.
Ride continues Wayne’s trend of stellar albums, but for the first time you see some slight chinks in the armor. The very first time I heard the title and opening track “Ride,” I could hear a lack of energy in Hancock’s voice that I had never heard from him in the recorded format. There’s nothing wrong with Wayne’s voice, you just don’t feel the same passion you know he’s capable of. This again shows up in the second song “Low Down Blues,” a track he says he wrote the day before going into the studio. I don’t mean these songs capture the depressed emotion of the story, they just simply sound a little uninspired. An artist must be balanced not only against their peers, but against themselves, and on these first few tracks, Wayne feels tired; a little un-Wayne Hancock.
Wayne pulls it out though, at the same time validating the tired hypothesis for the first few songs when he offers a truly inspired performance on the gospel-esque “Lone Road Home.” From there on, you re-discover the Wayne Hancock you know and love, with a bounce in his voice and bounding rhythms that are hard not to be compelled by. Another Wayne Hancock wonderment is his ability to pen instant classics, and that’s what you get with the sultry, jazzy “Gal From Kitchen’s Field” and the fun “Cappuccino Boogie.”
On Ride, Wayne starts by showing a little wear on the tires, but then rallies to prove he’s got plenty of tread left. He’s not just The Viper of Melody, or the King of Juke Joint Swing, he’s Wayne “The Train” Hancock by God. And even if he hangs up his guitar tomorrow, he will still go down as one of the most influential artists in American music, a true forefather of Americana, and one of the originating sparks of the roots music revolution.
1 3/4 of 2 guns up.
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February 28, 2013 @ 10:07 am
It’s easy to listen to this album and think, “Ho-hum, Wayne’s doing his usual thing” but there’s a definite immediacy to the sound that hits home hard. I wasn’t sure why that was until it was mentioned in the interview posted the other day that the whole album was recorded in a day and a half. And that’s it, it might be a familiar sounding Wayne but it’s a Wayne and band who sound fresh and alive.
Great stuff!!
February 28, 2013 @ 10:42 am
“It”™s easy to listen to this album and think, “Ho-hum, Wayne”™s doing his usual thing” but there”™s a definite immediacy to the sound that hits home hard.”
I agree. And I would add to “immediacy” and say there’s also an “intimacy” to the music because of its personal nature. Those are the things that make this album unique from his others.
February 28, 2013 @ 10:49 am
Hey trigger I know this has nothing to do with this new cd, but shit will buff out. Jason eady is trying to raise money for a new album, you should put something up on here to get people to help out
February 28, 2013 @ 12:27 pm
Hey Moose,
I generally do not promote Kickstarters unless their aim is altruistic, regardless if I like the artist or not. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to see them funded or won’t support the album once it is released, but I am wholeheartedly against crowd funding, especially when it uses Kickstarter. I believe the artist should either sacrifice to make the album themselves, or solicit the services of labels, including the many independent labels that don’t have the same trappings of the major ones, so nobody bitch that I want artists to sign themselves into servitude. Making music for a living is a privilege, not a right, and sacrificing for music results in better art in my opinion.
I’ve created many enemies from this stance, and I’ll create many more in the future. But it’s what I believe in.
Best of luck to Jason Eady and his campaign.
February 28, 2013 @ 12:18 pm
Its “chest of drawers”. I only bring this up becaause I thought it was called a chester drawers till I was like 16.
Thanks for the review. I would have liked a little more depth on instrumentation and other specifics like you would normally give to a pop country review. But, overall it’s good to hear Wayne is still pumping out new classics.
February 28, 2013 @ 12:36 pm
Man, I don’t know what’s going on, if it’s the full moon or something in the water, but I feel like I’ve got to put a hard hat on every time I sit down to the computer to read comments.
Believe it or not I researched whether I should call it “chester drawers” or “chest of drawers” and I decided the latter was just as appropriate and more humorous, so I rolled with it.
As far as talking about the instrumentation, I always try to remark on instrumentation on every review I do, but there was nothing on this album that stimulated me to solicit and opinion about it. That’s probably because I’ve been listening to Hancock’s music for so long, there was nothing here to really peel it away from his other works. I talked a lot about instrumentation on “Viper of Melody” because by using his touring band, it brought that project a unique sound. What I think makes “Ride” unique is the personal nature of the songs, and so that’s why I focused on this as the theme of the review.
February 28, 2013 @ 12:55 pm
I think wearing a virtual hardhat comes with the territory you are in.
The chester drawers thing made me laugh a little cause I truly used to think that was what a dresser was called. When I learned that it was actually chest of drawers I started to question everything that I knew as truth.
I just like to hear about who Wayne uses in studio versus on the road. His touring band seems to change pretty often nowadays, and playing with Wayne Hancock seems to be somewhat of a proving ground for many musicians in his field. Jared McGovern of the Broken Band played upright for him, Liz Sloan played fiddle on the Bob Wayne tour, the killer young lead player from Lucky Tubb’s band who’s name escapes me, Wyatt Maxwell (has to be the best young country/rockabilly picker alive), and don’t forget Hank III.
Wayne Hancock has almost single handedly revived a once (and still) dying art form and many young musicians have cut their teeth playing with him. Without him at the forefront in the past decade and beyond, we wouldn’t have such a vibrant selection of country and western, roots, americana, ameripolitan, bluegrass, newgrass, streetgrass, or blues music to choose from.
I’m biased about him, because he is probably my favorite country musician (which is saying a lot), but I was expecting a very in depth review and an even more in depth interview. And, yes, I know he’s not the biggest talker.
March 1, 2013 @ 9:07 am
HA! Wayne is the biggest talker in the world! I HAD to correct that one! lol!!
Trigger, Awesome write up as always. This is definitely a very personal album. The man is pushing 50, I am not surprised his vocals are starting to tire out….but he still has it! God Bless that man, and even more for staying sober. Ride is another wonderful addition. and cheers to no one beating the crap out of each other. WHEW! Thanks again Trigger for your support in good music.
March 1, 2013 @ 10:18 pm
Don’t forget James Hunnicutt did a stint with Wayne too. Zach Sweeny is the kid that plays with both Wayne and Lucky Tubb, and he’s a shredder. I tried to interview him in Oregon last time he played with Lucky, and he refused. I’ve also tried to interview Wyatt Maxwell a couple of times and it never worked out. I was there when Wayne and Wyatt met at an event in Grand Junction, CO thrown by Johnny Wrong that Wayne headlined and Mad Max & The Wild Ones opened. This was also the first time I interviewed Wayne, for about an hour out in the parking lot.
The reason this interview with Wayne wasn’t longer is because I wanted to focus this time on promoting the album, and I didn’t want to bury the album talk in a long interview that might discourage some folks from reading. Plus I hate doing long phone interviews, and I told Wayne we have a longer conversation the next time I hook up with him live.
I’m glad to hear someone appreciates my long content. My album reviews are usually twice as long as you’ll find most places. But that’s also one of the reasons barely anybody reads them.
February 28, 2013 @ 1:18 pm
I love listening to Wayne Hancock whenever I’m in the mood to listen to classic country. It mixes right in there with Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, and George Jones flawlessly. I’ve showed him to friends who claim to be country fans and they always ask why I like this old stuff. When I tell them it’s new they’re shocked.
March 5, 2013 @ 12:41 pm
Spot on as usual man! Dale Watson mentioned Wayne at a show last Tuesday in reference to the Ameripolitan Awards and his idea of ideal candidates. (I’ll also throw in…a reference to The Rumblejetts as well.)
March 6, 2013 @ 2:53 pm
Call me a troll, I don’t care…LONG LIVE THE CURRENT KING OF TEXAS SWING!
May 10, 2013 @ 10:39 am
“Ride” definitely tells a story, and by God, it’s a good one. The tone is both familiar and yet different, and I find it unequivocally easy on the ears. I saw Wayne in Brooklyn NY at the end of March for the 5th time. His band keeps getting smaller. He was down to 1 stand-up bass, 1 electric guitar and his own acoustic. That’s all he needs to get the crowd dancing and singing along, but man, wouldn’t it be grand if one of these days, he showed up again with a pedal steel player.