Shooter Jennings Quitting Country Music?
First thoughts that Shooter Jennings might be calling country music quits surfaced when Shooter’s label, Universal South announced that they were releasing a Greatest Hits album, Bad Magick: The Best of Shooter Jennings & 357’s. Since it hasn’t been even five years that Shooter has been doing the country thing, this release seemed a little odd. Then small bits of information started surfacing from people like Shooter’s bass player Ted Russell Kamp that Shooter’s new album was mostly rock and had very few country influences, and that he was shopping it around to new labels.
If you go to shooterjennings.com or even his MySpace site, you can see a clock radio with the word “Heirophant” on it. Heirophant is the name of Shooter’s new band, and the clock radio is very indicative of when radio stations exercise a format change, and hint of it for some time to build interest before the actual change occurs. And similar to a radio station format change, there has been a virtual media freeze in regards to information coming out from the Shooter camp about the direction of the new album, which is apparently in the can, possibly looking for a label.
In fact the lack of information is astounding for such a big name artist. I’ve seen from a couple of sources that Shooter’s new sound is “John Lennon meets Radiohead,” but I cannot verify that this information is from anyone who has intimate knowledge of where Shooter is headed.
What is for sure is that Shooter started as a rock n’ roller, before he decided to make the change to country, and his albums have been going further in the direction of rock since his debut album, Put the O Back in Country. Shooter at times has been openly frustrated and critical of the lack of success and radio play his music has received, going as far as to write about it in his lyrics. So given his history and the direction he appears to be heading, a format change would make sense.
Shooter is also playing on the “Warped” tour this summer, a tour that has rarely if ever catered to country artists. Jennings was also asked twice to be the singer of the “Guns & Roses” spinoff “Velvet Revolver” and declined. For more on this click here.
If all the rumors about Shooter abandoning country are not true, he certainly is not doing much to distance from them. I guess we will know soon enough.
I have never been a big fan of Shooter, but I’ve tried to stay clear of being critical of his music as well. There is much more worse stuff out there without question, and at times he has been critical of the Nashville establishment, which I appreciate.
If country music just isn’t in his heart, then I support him in making the change. Nobody should be anything that they don’t want to be. But this also plays right into the hands on Shooter’s critics, who say he only changed to country in the first place for the money and exposure that he could get because of his name.
If all of this turns out to be true, then I feel bad for the Shooter Jennings fans out there. The country fans. Not that him flipping genres takes away anything from his previous music, but it certainly looks like Shooter had only one foot in the whole time, and in my opinion, you can hear that as you progress through his discography.
Long story short, I guess Shooter is asking:
Apparently Shooter doesn’t have the same appreciation for Bob Wills or old school Willie Nelson that a lot of his country fans do, or that his father did.
On a side note, I think this also brings to conclusion the Shooter vs. Shelton Hank III battle. Hank III previously said: “If you wanna go down that road and rip us off, mutherfucker, I’ll see you in ten years and five thousand shows down the road.” It looks like Shooter will not make it, at least playing country.
Ironically, though we do not have an album or even a single, Shooter is going to be out touring into the summer. It will be interesting to hear about what the sound is as Shooter makes whatever transition he is making.
April 26, 2009 @ 1:58 pm
Cant Take the Heat Git Outta The Kitchen
Sorry but im not a fan , if ANYONE ever rode their daddy’s name it was Shooter
And as for Being Rock first then switching to country, That Seems To Be the trend nowadays, Look At Keith Urban ,Sorry dont look at him you might turn queer , but you know what i mean
April 26, 2009 @ 5:11 pm
Everyone wants wants a chance suckling on that sweet, lucrative pop country teat.
April 26, 2009 @ 9:14 pm
I really wish everyone would get off Hank III’s cock for just one second…. it’d be nice.
April 26, 2009 @ 9:57 pm
Hank III does have a pretty loyal fan base, and sure, some are loyal to a fault, but I’m not sure that has anything to do with what is going on here.
As far as the bad blood between Shooter and Shelton, I actually defended Shooter in the whole “Put the O” controversy. CLICK HERE.
April 27, 2009 @ 8:48 am
no i understand, its just frustrating. I like both artist, and it just seems the HANK III die-hards have no open mind to anything outside of III. Let the music speak for itself. Nobody questions when III gets up on stage and does a hard-core set, yet he’s supposed to be the savior of country, just doesn’t make sense to me.
April 27, 2009 @ 9:00 am
All I know is Shooter and Hank III are two of my favorite artists. Yes I’m not that big of a fan of Hank’s Assjack band but his country music is great and speaks from the heart, Shooter does as well. And yes their father’s name helped them get into the business but it hasn’t put them mainstream because they write and play the music they want adn it’s from the heart which isn’t scene much in country music today. And they could’ve easily sold out to country labels and played the music Nashville wanted them to play because that music and their names would equal to big amounts of money for them. So I guess what I’m saying is that it would be a sad day to see Shooter Jennings leave country music and Nashville would be losing a true star that tried to preserve the music that his daddy and others worked for.
April 27, 2009 @ 10:35 am
I’m not a big fan of Assjack, though I’ve warmed up to it more recently. But I think the difference between III playing rock and Shooter is the consistency. III has been doing the Assjack thing right beside the country for years. With Shooter it has flip flopped. Starrgun, to country w/ the .357’s, and now Hierophant, which apparently IS the .357’s, just with a different lead player, though I’m not hearing that from Shooter’s camp, because Shooter’s camp is leaving all of his fans in the dark at the moment.
If Shooter doesn’t feel like the country thing is his cup of tea and he wants to be in a rock band, then that is what he should do. The best way for Shooter to make the best music he can is to follow his heart and do what HE wants to do, NOT what a bunch of music nerds like myself want him to do, or what is going to make him the most money. So in that respect, I applaud Shooter’s move.
However, flipping back to rock gives Shooter’s critics the ammo to say his heart was never in the country stuff. I think his heart was in it at the beginning, but now obviously it is not, or we wouldn’t have this change.
April 27, 2009 @ 11:19 am
yea, i agree with both statements. I’m kinda torn being a shooter fan with weather or not his heart was in it from the beginning, i believe it was because if you’re gonna tell me he was faking it w/his first record, then i give up on music all together. I do feel though that shooter was forcing the “country” label that was tagged on him, as well i i think he has grown sour towards the little bit of love he did have for the country establishment ““I didn”™t feel like my next step should to be to go from feeling like my back was broken by Nashville to stepping into the shoes of Scott Weiland and singing that stuff,”….so my problem with that is if he truly believes in the music is/was making then why not stay and fight the good fight. Its all a really blurry situation for me, I’m really anticipating the new record from Hierophant to see what its like, I honestly hope Shooter goes with his heart, rock n’ roll or country either way, and I hope everyone in music gives it an open mind.
April 27, 2009 @ 2:03 pm
Well Triggerman it looks like you hit a nerve on this topic. It seems you always do on the Shooter articles. Correct me if I’m wrong. Shooter grew up around country music. He practicly lived on his dad’s tour bus. He learned and played with his dad. His roots and heritage go country. More country than any other country music singer on music row, we’re leaving III out of this one. One cannot say that he makes his music just for money. One cannot say that he is riding his father’s name. Shooter has the right idea on the corruption in Nashville. He wouldn’t write and play the songs that he sings if he didn’t believe in them. He obviously hasn’t gotten very far in Nashville because the asshole Nashville lawyers who sell “country music” don’t like him stirring up dirt about how country music has gone to pop. Now correct me if I’m wrong again; I believe Shooter started too big. I believe if he toured and played in small venues, just like all the other bands trying to save country music, he would find a stronger fan base that had the same beliefs and ideas as he did. There are thousands of fans out there that would love to hear some good country mixed in with a little bit of rock n roll. Hell thats how it got started with Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis etc. It is hard to see Shooter stray away from the country scene and leave us behind to keep fighting. Going what I said before; it’s hard to see his abandoning his roots. You won’t see the last of him in the country scene.
April 27, 2009 @ 3:24 pm
Good call bates
April 27, 2009 @ 4:44 pm
Hey Bates,
I can’t disagree with anything you said, including loving to hear some good country mixed in with a little bit of rock n’ roll.
I hope for Shooter’s country fans out there that he isn’t abandoning country music. But he didn’t change the name of his band to “Hierophant” for no reason.
April 28, 2009 @ 11:39 am
I saw Shooter on the 25th. He played about 5 or 6 songs frome the new album, and they sounded good. I like Shooter and i really do not think that he cares what anyone else thinks(kinda like his daddy) He is gonna do his own thing and if you like it, great and if you don’t …
April 30, 2009 @ 1:19 pm
Hank III or no Hank III the simple fact is Shooter may as well quit country and head back to rock since Leroy Powell left the band….That dude has more talent in his farts than Shooter ever had.
Shooter is the Earnhardt Jr. of country music.
April 30, 2009 @ 7:45 pm
Heheheehe!!! Oh man. And the worst thing you can do in NASCAR world is criticize Jr.
I agree with you on the band. The .357’s are badass if you ask me. Leroy Powell is great. Ted Russel Kamp is too. Shooter deserves credit for surrounding himself with good talent. A lot of the Shooter haters like to say, “All of the talent was in his band.”
May 1, 2009 @ 2:30 pm
I’d half way agree with that, a lot of soul left the band when Leroy left it. At the same time, Shooter wrote 90% of the songs for the band, so its kinda hard to argue he wasn’t the essential piece. Leroy has went on to make some great records, probably more country than shooter in my opinion. I really wish they could have kept it together. I think Shooter & all the .357’s career’s would be different if they would have found some common grounds.
May 10, 2009 @ 7:57 pm
I’ve heard some of the hierophant bootlegged tracks….. interesting to say the least
May 11, 2009 @ 12:07 am
Ok, you have me interested . . .
Saving Country Music » Blog Archive » Wake Up! Shooter Jennings Has Gone Rock.
May 11, 2009 @ 3:01 pm
[…] I first asserted that Shooter Jennings was quitting country music, there were some that said good riddance, others saying “say it ain’t so,” some […]
June 2, 2009 @ 7:19 pm
I saw Shooter Jennings at the Viejas Casino on May 29- he is definitely going rock. He promoted his new album (without it being out) by playing 9 songs from it and threw in a few specks of his old hits to keep the natives happy. As someone who has seen Shooter perform live seven times (which have been truly exciting shows that rock good ol’ country britches)I was a little disappointed. Also, he is touring with a new lead guitarist and a super dorky electric pianist who pushes the instrument across the stage in an awkward and wierd way.
June 3, 2009 @ 12:44 am
Thanks for the eyewitness account Denise.
September 8, 2009 @ 7:47 pm
I don’t think most of the people out there get it. What Shooter Jennings, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Stoney Larue and bands like them do is real music “real rock music”, mixed with country “real country”, but not only country, but the ingredients of real country, styles like blues,folk rock, acoustic music, classic rock, southern rock and everything else. Anyone that couldn’t hear the rock in all of shooters stuff is an idiot. The country stuff was there, but alot was pure acoustic stuff that could have been done by other types of musicians like folk singers or classic rock types. people like Willie and Waylon, Johny cash, Kris Kristofferson, were originals. there music blurred the line between ,country, folk, blues, rock, and hippie stoner stuff etc. these are real artist making roots oriented music with an edge. i don’t see were all of shooters stuff couldn’t be played in one set. if you don’t hear the passion in all of his stuff you are a fool. the stuff shooter does has never been the lametop ten cd’s at Wallmart, or the same old pop country songs that sound like they came out of a machine, with some cowboy hat wearing redneck, with some annoying drawl, and no edge or balls, nor is it the lame ass rascal flats mixing pop country with pop rock. It is edgy music written yes by an artist that plays them, songs from the heart, the gut, experimenting and breaking boundaries and blurring labels. In the 80’s you had Bon Jovi, and bands like guns n roses came and destroyes them, and then bands like Nirvana buried them. I look at bands like shooter and cross canadian ragweed, and a host of others as the same thing flushing lame shit down the toilet.
September 8, 2009 @ 8:12 pm
I still can’t figure how you people think shooter left rock, for country or is going back to rock, could you not hear rock in all of his music. this new stuff is good and i can listen to it right along with the other stuff,i personally hate most country it sucks, If you don’t hear the rock in Waylon, or people like Cash your deaf. Shooter probably wants to put a bigger gap between the people that actually get what he’s about which is “equally his 357 stuff and his newer stuff,” which both rock, and the crowd that is all about “hey I’m a redneck you got long hair you must be a faggot” play something we can two step to. I always looked at shooter is rock with country flavor. for all of you cry babies not getting it, why don’t you forget about lame hank 3 and listen to david allen coes rebel meets rebel, and get a clue.
November 3, 2009 @ 12:16 pm
Country music turned it’s back on Shooter. I agree that the .357’s were stronger when Leroy Powell was in it. But as alot of you have stated Shooter’s always had one foot in & one foot out. All the Nashville scene wants is a puppet. They wanna write your songs, replace your band with session players & chop up your demos. I’m tired of all this pop-country crap being the new craze. Bands of the Red Dirt scene have been able to make a living because it’s honest from the heart music. Maybe not country, not rock just good music.
Shelton’s one talented guy but what’s up with all the anger?
January 9, 2010 @ 4:56 pm
i love shooter jennings and i love hank III. i have seen them both in concert in this past year, and both shows were great. i think that the problem here is that we as indivduals have a tendency to lock our selves into liking only one certain kind of music. i love hanks metal and his country stuff and the same for as far as shooter. i dont beleive that country music is about how fast the beat is its about the attude behind the music. for instance i concider assjack to be metal country. so put that in your pipe and smoke it