Heavy Metal’s DevilDriver Helming Expansive Outlaw Country Tribute Record
What started out to be the idea for a heavy metal album of Outlaw country covers by DevilDriver frontman Dez Fafara has apparently turned into a monster project that may include dozens of songs and as many as 25 guest appearances. A project long rumored from the band, Dez Fafara says he started reaching out to folks in the metal world who may want to contribute, and he received such an overwhelming reception, the project has taken on a life of its own.
Randy Blythe from Lamb of God, Lee Ving from the band Fear, and Chuck Billy from Testament are some of the names said to be involved with the project, with many other contributors being kept under wraps at the moment. Though the album was originally due to be released this fall, it won’t likely be released until next year due to the amount of contributions.
“If you go to a metal concert you hear country. So the guys outside my bus that are sitting there having a barbecue before the show, I’m listening to them and they are listening to everything from Black Sabbath to Johnny Cash,” says Dez Fafara of DevilDriver. “It’s just a very natural progression. If you go on any tour bus in the United States, a metal tour bus, you are definitely going to hear outlaw country.
“There is some kind of form of respect that artists that did their thing that weren’t pop country, that did their thing in their own time and branded themselves as heavy artists. Just like heavy metal, blues and punk rock is very underground, those outlaw artists were very underground as well. So there is a very good mutual form of respect there. So it is a natural progression.”
Though the songs will be country, the approach to most of the songs will be metal. But Dez Fafara also says there may be contributors from other genres as well, including country. Though not directly tied to the project yet, Fafara mentioned John Carter Cash and Jamey Johnson as examples of people from the country world who also have an appreciation for heavy metal as well.
“It’s important to get the people that are on this thing to actually feel it,” says Dez Fafara. “So we’ve got people from the outlaw country genre. We’ve got people from the metal genres. We’ve got people from the punk rock genre. And all these people that are onboard are feeling what we’re doing … But the words, the lyrics of outlaw country… I want you to find anybody that can deliver a heavier lyric than, ‘I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die,’ by Johnny Cash. You’re not going to find me another heavier lyric like that either it be in heavy metal or punk rock. And those lyrics are so poignant.”
No official word on a title or release date for the project.
June 20, 2017 @ 6:54 pm
Would be interesting to hear a metal version of a Waylon song
June 20, 2017 @ 8:09 pm
If Lemmy were still alive, I’d love to hear Motorhead do “I May Be Used (But Baby I Ain’t Used Up).”
June 21, 2017 @ 8:35 am
Look up a band called The Head Cat. It’s a side project from Lemmy doing rockabilly music, early elvis sun stuff and so on. It features Lee Rocker of Stray Cats on bass. They did a few records, not country exactly but much closer than Motorhead.
June 21, 2017 @ 9:26 am
I will, thanks!
June 20, 2017 @ 8:24 pm
James Hatfield did a great cover of “Don’t You Think this Outlaw Bit’s Done Got Out of Hand” on one of the Waylon tribute albums –
https://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/ive-always-been-crazy-a-tribute-to-waylon-jennings/7877549?ean=0078636706429?ean=0078636706429
June 21, 2017 @ 6:21 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIFeJU2HPmo
BTDT.
June 20, 2017 @ 7:28 pm
I will enjoy this a lot.
I like Hellyeah and Texas Hippie Coalition a lot.
June 20, 2017 @ 7:31 pm
How about Corrosion of Conformity covering, “I Can Get Off On You?”
June 21, 2017 @ 8:11 pm
Love COC.
June 20, 2017 @ 7:54 pm
Lost me at approach will be metal.
June 20, 2017 @ 8:38 pm
I’ll be interested in this project.
As much as we grip about the state of mainstream country, isn’t metal worse off? Or am I just not privy to any underground metal scene?
June 21, 2017 @ 4:28 am
It might be worse off. There’s a lot of metal right now that focuses on being technical more than it does on songwriting. It’s amazing what these guys can play but it sounds very mechanical and has no feeling.
I highly recommend the new Mastodon album. It has none of these issues.
June 21, 2017 @ 7:49 am
I think you’ll find metal similar to country in that the best bands are not really mainstream. Metal never had much love on the radio to begin with except during the dreaded hair metal days of the 80s. You’ll find some great stuff in metal, metalcore and hardcore out there under the radar just like you do with country. Fire From the Gods, Primordial, Terror, Jungle Rot, Heaven Shall Burn and Khemmis are just starters for some of the good stuff hiding out there. I love metal as much as country and I’m glad to see a project like this. I think it’ll be pretty cool.
June 21, 2017 @ 12:19 pm
It is absolutely paramount that American metal fans discover the Scandinavian metal scene. There’s just no comparison between the two. Modern American metal is mostly terrible.
June 21, 2017 @ 4:34 pm
As a case in point, Metallica released several amazing albums in the 80s, with Kill ’em All, Master of Puppets, Ride the Lightning and Injustice for All. Their songs can be heard on rock radio today, but not during the 80s, they seemed to be largely underground. It wasn’t until they gained a more mainstream sound with Black and Load/Reload that they started getting airplay. Good luck getting other thrash bands like Slayer or Anthrax on the radio.
June 21, 2017 @ 6:30 pm
Thanks for repping Jungle Rot. Great guys who I used to see play basements and bars. They’re from the town next to where I grew up.
June 21, 2017 @ 5:47 pm
Baroness is an outstanding band. It’s very similar to the underground country scene in that most of the best shit is hard to find. Also, in my opinion most of the best bands have been around for quite some time. Even Baroness who I brought up have been going for a long time. But there is a wealth of underground stuff from the last 25 years or so that is just amazing. Our radio station in Spokane does play Slayer and Anthrax and a lot of good stuff – a lot of bad as well of course.
June 20, 2017 @ 8:48 pm
Might be cool. Maybe they’ll have some fun with it, like the Circle Jerks did in the early 1980s with their Golden Shower of Hits (Jerks on 45).
The last two country music concerts I attended were so friggin’ loud they might as well have been heavy metal concerts.
June 21, 2017 @ 1:07 am
i’ve always wanted to hear Clutch do a cover of Waitin’ Around to Die
June 21, 2017 @ 3:05 am
I’d be real curious to hear what Lee Ving comes up with. That dude has some pipes on him (or at least, he did). One of the best voices in punk (presumably because his singing career predates punk).
June 21, 2017 @ 5:35 am
It better be cool, otherwise it will definitely fall on the complete opposite side of spectrum: Godawful.
For sample of terrible see james from metallica doing waylon or Shooter’s fenixon version of waylon songs. This will not work…
For good examples see Cody Jinks doing rock covers, if they can find that happy medium they will be better off.
June 21, 2017 @ 5:46 am
Not sure Social Distortion counts as metal (I have zero expertise in that genre) but they do a great version of “Making Believe.”
June 21, 2017 @ 5:50 am
They do a fine job on “Ring Of Fire,” as well
June 21, 2017 @ 6:36 am
Yes, Doug….Mike Ness covers many country songs. And does them well!
June 21, 2017 @ 8:09 am
Thanks so much for your wisdom and guidance, Doctor. And for the pat on the head.
June 21, 2017 @ 5:58 am
DevilDriver have been one of my favorite bands for a long time… but I’m really not hopeful about this project at all.
June 21, 2017 @ 8:00 am
Dang. I’m so tired of hearing about “Outlaw”. “He’s an outlaw.” “I’m an outlaw.” “You’re not an outlaw.”
Everybody knows Waylon and Johnny Cash, but if you start talking about Hank Thompson or Johnny Bush, you get blank stares.
“Outlaw” is second only to rap, as the most obnoxious thing Nashville is obsessed with.
June 22, 2017 @ 7:32 am
When the “Outlaw Country Cruise” became a thing, you knew it was over.
You wanna do hard edged, angry country music? Awesome. Don’t call yourself or your music “outlaw” though. That’s about the cheesiest corporate cliche you can come up with.
At this point “Outlaw” seems synonymous with the 55 year old investment banker or dentist who owns a Harley with 1100 miles on it over the 8 years its been in his garage that gets dressed up in full leather chaps and vest to play badass 4 days a year when the weather is perfect.
June 22, 2017 @ 7:54 am
bwahahaha good analogy..
June 21, 2017 @ 8:29 am
Not exactly relevant, but a few years ago I had the opportunity to listen to a great Heavy Metal version of The Thunder Rolls by a band in Texas called Overscene.
June 21, 2017 @ 9:08 am
That brings back memories. I saw Devildriver open for Superjoint Ritual (with Hank III on bass) back in 2003-ish (I think!). They weren’t half bad. This could be an interesting project, depending on who he gets on board.
June 21, 2017 @ 9:09 am
Hellstompers been doing punk rock country for years… Devildriver and Lamb of God think I’ll pass
June 21, 2017 @ 6:32 pm
Dude, how can you talk about Hellstomper doing punk rock country and leave out Antiseen?
June 21, 2017 @ 6:43 pm
Antiseens awesome but when I think of punk rock or metal country type bands hellstomper sticks out in my mind
June 21, 2017 @ 9:11 am
Sounds like a fun project…
June 21, 2017 @ 9:40 am
Hah, I use to love these guys in my early 20’s. Now I only listens to these guys sometimes when I’m pumping iron. I’m gonna keep an eye out to this album, should be funny.
June 21, 2017 @ 9:53 am
Bring on Cody Jinks.
Not only a hard rock/metal fan, but used to play for a number of years in a metal band.
June 21, 2017 @ 2:32 pm
Same for John Moreland
June 21, 2017 @ 12:40 pm
Pretty much the same as Lionel Richie doing a country album….whatever.
June 21, 2017 @ 3:06 pm
Best crossover band ever is Dread Zeppelin
wikipedia.
“Dread Zeppelin is an American band best known for performing the songs of Led Zeppelin in a reggae style as sung by a 300-pound (140 kg) Las Vegas Elvis impersonator”
June 21, 2017 @ 5:51 pm
I am interested but skeptical. So many metal bands these days give little to no concern to being able to make out the lyrics. That won’t work with country remakes – even if the rhythms are slammin’.
June 21, 2017 @ 6:32 pm
So, on one hand we have mainstream Nashville artists doing a tribute to Motley Crue, and on the other hand, we have this. It might sound surprising at first glance that we’d see something like this, but it’s really not. You could call it the flip side of Jason Boland being a fan of Iron Maiden. And there’s at least a little bit of precedent for metal covers of country songs, with — among others —Iced Earth covering “Highwayman” and Adrenaline Mob covering “The Devil Went Down To Georgia.” And there were quite a few metal artists who paid verbal tribute to Merle Haggard when he passed away last year.
At the end of the day it’s really about liking honest, real music more than anything else, and I’ve always thought that real country music and most heavy metal had that in common if nothing else. I remember when Don Henley released Cass County a couple of years ago, I thought it was pretty sad that an aging rocker made a better country album than most if not all of the popular “country” artists of the day, and I could make a similar observation here — that is, that it’s pretty sad that it’s left to artists from another genre to pay tribute to country greats while “country” artists are paying tribute to middle-of-the-pack ’80s glam metal bands. I know that a mainstream country tribute to country legends these days would be every bit as insincere and inauthentic as the ever-popular country/hip-hop mixtape, but that inauthenticity is just yet another symptom of the problem with mainstream country music.
At any rate, I must admit I’d be interested in hearing this tribute. I wouldn’t be too keen on hearing the Cookie Monster vocals on any of those songs, as I’ve never been a fan of that style to begin with — I much prefer metal with clean vocals — but I can definitely respect the metal guys doing something like this, at least. Considering that the album is going to have at least a few country artists collaborating, I bet it’ll have at least a few good if not great moments. We’ll see.
June 21, 2017 @ 8:15 pm
I like Metal and Country, at least old school metal, but I have a feeling this album will be disappointing.
June 21, 2017 @ 10:27 pm
I’d like to hear a Speed Metal record of Bluegrass covers.
June 21, 2017 @ 10:39 pm
I will enjoy this
June 22, 2017 @ 3:09 am
Jeff Walker of Cacass did an album of country covers and it was pretty good
June 23, 2017 @ 4:43 am
Not sure here. Either god awful or brilliant idea. But, my curiosity is piqued. I’ll give it at least one honest listen.