Bob Wayne’s Big Push & Century Media

Last October, I stepped onto Joe Buck’s legendary motorhome for an interview, and during our conversation he dropped the bomb that he’d signed to Century Media and was going to be working on a record with legendary producer Jack Endino.

This was big news, because Joe Buck was about the last person I envisioned signing to a record label. The only person more unlikely was Bob Wayne. In the first song on his first album, Bob says “As far as selling out goes I ain’t even looking for a deal.”

Weather he was looking for it or not, a deal found him, and as announced first on Outlaw Radio Chicago Episode 100, it was with Century Media as well. Since that news it looks like Joe Buck will NOT be moving forward with Century, though he is still going forward with the Jack Endino project. But Bob Wayne rolls on.

Last week Century sent out a press release and released a couple of videos of Bob being backed by the .357 String Band (see below). And it doesn’t end there. He’s also announced a tour with Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers, and he’s now working with Coffin Case. There’s rumors of movie projects and video shorts, and word is Wayne Hancock makes an appearance on the new album Outlaw Carnie due out October 26th. Our little Bob Wayne is all growns up, and things are clicking for him finally.

If there’s a hitch, it’s that some Century Media faithful are crying foul. Century is a pure heavy metal label, and has been for years. One reason I’m hearing that the Joe Buck deal didn’t go down is that Century was planning to open a new division or imprint, and Joe Buck was part of that plan until Century decided not to go in that direction. Joe Buck and Bob Wayne together maybe on a sub-label would have seemed more plausible. But to the casual Century fan, I can see how this signing and media push could come out of left field. Think of how insurgent country fans would feel if Bloodshot started signing metal bands.

As I’ve been saying for years, Bob Wayne is one of the best pure songwriters in country today. He’s spent years paying his dues touring tirelessly for little money. If people want to hate his music simply because it’s not metal, that’s their loss. And for the record, Bob Wayne was playing metal in the metal band Stickman when some of these whiners were still shitting their Pampers.

Century has decided to go in this direction because the fandom of punk and metal music is shifting to roots based music. Century doesn’t want to be left in the cold. Having said that, there’s two sides to Bob Wayne, and the promotion videos only show one, leaving out the Cash-esque superlative songwriter. Doesn’t help that the audio quality is sub-par as well. Still, if you’ve been a Bob Wayne fan like me, head over to YouTube and let Bob, Century, and the close-minded metal nerds know what YOU think about the Devil’s Son.