Album Review – Whiskey Myers – “Whomp Whack Thunder”
Southern Rock (#562) on the Country DDS
Whiskey Myers didn’t get the memo that the world has moved on from the days of uninhibited rock and roll, especially when it’s dipped in a batter seasoned with seven herbs and spices, and fried up Southern style. A few short years ago, simply being in possession of music like this might get you sent to HR, or shadowbanned on certain social media platforms.
But Whiskey Myers is here to proclaim that it’s not just country music that needs saving. Someone should stand up tall and puff their chest out for good old American rock and roll, and they’re a good or better candidate to do so as any. So coin yourself an onomatopoeia, and let the guitars roar. Welcome ladies and gentlemen to Whomp Whack Thunder.
If we’re being honest, a little trepidation preceded this album. When it was announced the reigning Country Music Antichrist Jay Joyce would be assuming the position behind the knobs and faders for this project, some feared the worst. Joyce has a sordid history of turning our favorite mainstream country performers into pop and rock acts.
But with Whiskey Myers, that ship already sailed years ago. We’re lucky if we get anything country-sounding from them these days, and they’ve always been more of a rock band. And since they enter the studio with their own songs and all the personnel to play them, it insulates them from the worst of the Jay Joyce effect.
Whomp Whack Thunder is just as good or better of a Whiskey Myers album as you can land on thumbing through a CD or vinyl collection. It’s also very much a Whiskey Myers album, with Cody Cannon singing his guts out, John Jeffers and Cody Tate awakening the rock gods on guitar, Jamey Gleaves on bass, Tony Kent on keys, and Jeff Hogg pounding the war drums.
This album is like a tribute or a love letter to rock and roll, and the lifestyle thereof. There’s an ode to cacophonous self-destruction in the song “Tailspin.” There’s songs about life on the road in “I Got To Move” and “Ramblin’ Jones.” There’s a song about the type of wild women you might meet along the way in “Midnight Woman.” Then “Rock N Roll” just comes right out and preaches about what Whiskey Myers personify on the rest of the record.
Speaking of songs though, Whiskey Myers sticks pretty close to the well-worn themes of rock music on this one, which isn’t entirely out-of-character, though you do expect one or two more introspective moments that you don’t really get on this album. “Rowdy Days” does try to tell the other side of the story of an aging rock musician. “Monsters” looks to vanquish the imaginary adversaries in our own minds, but isn’t entirely novel either.
But Whomp Whack Thunder is still an excellent listening record and a hell of a good time, prone to causing speeding tickets on daily commutes, or the need to explain to your wife that you weren’t standing on the living room couch playing air guitar, but trying to brush a cobweb off the ceiling. This is music to trash a hotel room to, and hurl the TV into the pool. The album arguably reaches its anthemic peak with the song “Icarus” about refusing to give up or be counted out.
Sometimes even a strong country fan seeks out a country-adjacent change of pace. As a regular edition on the country festival circuit and proud compatriots of the Texas music scene, Whiskey Myers and Whomp Whack Thunder is a good option, even if it might lead you to some bad behavior and regrettable life choices like the best in rock and roll does.
8.1/10
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Purchase from Whiskey Myers
September 29, 2025 @ 8:33 am
I’m still such a die hard for their earlier sound I struggle to accept this is how it is now. I’m glad you like the album. I wish I could evolve with them too but alas, I am a WM dinosaur.
September 29, 2025 @ 8:41 am
this album rules. Miles better than its predecessor.
September 29, 2025 @ 8:47 am
Saw them Saturday night and they don’t play some of their biggest hits… no “Ballad of a Southern Man,” “Guitar Picker,” or “Anna Marie.” They still put on a helluva show. I get bands eventually phase out some of their older material, but would’ve been nice if they closed with 1 or 2 of them.
Dexter & the Moon Rocks opened and put on a great show as well.
September 29, 2025 @ 8:56 am
Whenever a band just releases a new album, they’re always gonna favor the new material. I’m sure those songs haven’t been permanently fazed out.
September 29, 2025 @ 9:01 am
I love WM for who they genuinely and unapologetically are. They never miss.
September 29, 2025 @ 9:43 am
Their self titled album in 2019 signaled the end. From broken window serenade to a song eloquently tilted “bitch.”
They haven’t really recovered any ground from there. I listen hoping to find a great track or two, but it’s missing.
Glad it works for you, just ain’t my bag anymore. They’ve evolved passed my sensibilities.
September 29, 2025 @ 10:04 am
I mean bitch is one of the worst, if not the worst, songs on that album.
But that album has a ton of good in it as well.
September 29, 2025 @ 10:29 am
As I said in the review, I agree it’s missing those one or two great “songs” (not just great tracks) that Whiskey Myers can deliver. But they’ve embraced themselves as a rock band, and perhaps even more on this record.
September 29, 2025 @ 9:55 am
Sorry, but that ain’t my kind of country!
September 29, 2025 @ 10:29 am
Probably because it’s not country.
September 29, 2025 @ 10:16 am
For the record, I opened the morning cleaning the house to Margo Price’s album followed by Myron Elkins, and when it was time for the health club visit, I wanted my ass Whomped, Whacked, and Thundered!!! I’ve been lovin’ this album since it dropped, and we certainly know Rock N Roll could use a little help….(great song too, btw!) This record fills that need of occasionally rockin’ out in the Jeep and giving that Sub a little workout. I never thought I’d say it, but let’s give credit where credit is due, this is Jay Joyce’s lane. I liked Tornillo, and this one may have a clunker I might eliminate, but there’s some Kick Ass tunes on here. I agree with Trig, I don’t need to twang 24/7. I like a little variety, always have.
September 29, 2025 @ 10:20 am
Sunday morning paper said
Rock n roll is surely dead
Somethin hit me deep down in my soul
Lord I know . …
September 29, 2025 @ 10:22 am
I saw them live last week and I think they only did two songs off the new album, but they fit right in with the rest of the set. You’re right that they are more rock than country, but there’s enough “Southern” in that rock to bridge the gap.
And I know this site obviously focuses more on country music, but it was great to see a rockin’ band with two excellent lead guitars in this day and age of wondering what happened to guitar solos.
September 29, 2025 @ 11:15 am
Different tastes for different folks. WM ain’t country but neither is Treaty Oak, Ragweed, Red Clay Strays, Them Dirty Roses, Blackberry Smoke, Lowdown Drifters, Stamm, CWG, and a host of others that are/were regulars on the festival circuit. And, bands that are more of the Texas & Red Dirt scene aren’t entirely country either. Most are rock influence. But there’s no space out there for these bands besides being folded into the roots family. Rock, Blues, and country, all cousins from the same grandmother.
Smoke and WM are the reigning beacons of southern rock. I dig the album more than Tornillo as a whole. For any of the aforementioned genres, 4 is the proper minimum number of stringed instruments. 5 if there is a fiddle and/or pedal steel included. Rock on WM! Good and Fair review Trig.