For those who hanker for fast-paced, overdriven guitar tones, with a little down-home Southern hostility thrown in, Joe Buck’s got a sound that won’t disappoint. Be warned, however, that his sound may deafen the ears of innocent bystanders who aren’t interested in such musical productions.
The upright bassist and sideman for Hank Williams III resides in Nashville, and with his new, self-titled album, Joe Buck Yourself, he’s the leading representative for a genre he’s dubbed “hellbilly rock.”
The album name, Joe Buck Yourself, says it all. The rather hateful insult he’s alluded to by giving his album such a title couldn’t depict a clearer image of what his music has to offer. As for the music contained therein, it has its ups and downs. Basically, though, the release is composed of pulsing drums and bass guitar, overdriven electric guitars, taunting vocals and lyrical themes that speak of death, violence and hatred.
The lack of musical diversity on the album is rather upsetting. Each song seems to be structured the exact same way. Pulsating drums provide the rhythmical pavement and the same overdone guitar tone revs into each basic power-chord progression on 10 of the 13 tracks.
The CD’s lyrical content is equally monofaceted, with each song carrying the common theme of Southern pride, killing, evil or depressing content that’s as equally bizarre as the other more specific topics.
Although the album has some good rock ’n’ roll drum and guitar tones, the overall production is poor in that each instrument, including the vocals, wasn’t properly mixed on most of the tracks. The album’s first song, “Dig a Hole,” and track 7, “Bitter Is the Day,” are primary examples of the production issues that plague this album. And in all honestly, the whole album sounds better through a pair of Walkman headphones than it does on a nice home-stereo system.
For what it’s worth, this reviewer recommends that all go “Joe Buck Yourself” musically at least once by visiting joebuckyourself.com or myspace.com/joebuckyourselfmotherfucker.
