Hillbilly Idol
Hillbilly Idol
Slewfoot Records


by William Michael Smith

One run through Hillbilly Idol and it's obvious that classic country is a labor of love for this fine Ohio ensemble. The album is anything but retro, yet those old enough to remember the great country music television programs of the '60s that featured acts like Buck Owens, Porter Wagoner, and The Wilburn Brothers will instantly identify this music with those shows and that golden period when Bakersfield and Nashville were vying for the title of the home of country music.

Hillbilly Idol's sound melds the twangy Buck Owens-Don Rich western beat sound with the slick harmonies of the Wilburns and the songwriting style of Boudeleaux and Felice Bryant and the Louvin brothers, Charlie and Ira. There are also occasional echoes of the country-billy sound of the Everly Brothers, whom the Bryants often wrote for, and a hint of Appalachian country. The music is filled with two and three part harmonies, lots of two-step shuffle beats, and the classic Lloyd Green sound of Al Moss's smooth steel guitar.

The five-piece band features three seasoned songwriters in Dave Huddleston, Paul Kovac, and the prolific Moss. The music ranges from twangy straight country tracks like "Smack Dab in the Middle of Love," "No Time Like the Past" and "I Don't Think About You Anymore" to the Roy Acuff style East Tennessee hills sound of "Between Here and Heaven and Gone." There is also a very classy track written and sung by Huddleston, "No More To Lose," that sounds like the modern, jazzy pop-country that Alison Krause has parlayed into several big hits.

There is a vintage, loving cover of the Louvin's hillbilly classic, "She Didn't Even Know I Was Gone" that gives as good an indication of where Hillbilly Idol comes from musically as anything on the disc. And with Huddleston's sad, sensitive vocal, their cover of Tim O'Brien's blue "Late in the Day" is one of my favorite tracks on the record.

Besides being a fine lyricist, Moss shows himself to be a sophisticated student of the Lloyd Green steel guitar style on the Jimmy Giuffre instrumental "Four Brothers," as well as on his original composition, the Bakersfield-ish "Radio Flyer." Hillbilly Idol proves that the country instrumental is not an entirely lost art. And they know a groove when they find it.

But a fine lyricist Moss certainly is. His "No Time Like the Past" shows a firm mastery of the country songwriting idiom and technique as he lays out a barstool lyric that screams "that's country."

Today was still tomorrow when I loved you yesterday
The sun came back this morning but you had gone away
So I called your name out loud and an echo answered back
Close your eyes, she'll be there, you see there's no time like the past

Moss has also written a great lonesome road musician song, "Dixie Highway Home." Accented with a mournful banjo and sung in an Appalachian vocal style, this is a very radio friendly track. The tune also is a great vehicle for the slick harmonizing this band specializes in.

Sometimes the song I sing will take me far away
Further down the road, another chance to play
When Friday's show is over and then Saturday's to go
I pray that Sunday morning brings a Dixie highway home

While Moss has written the majority of the songs here, all three men demonstrate great touch and facility at writing for the country audience. And that sneaky Mr. Huddleston has penned an excellent surf-western-noir instrumental to close out the disc. I could listen to a whole album of these guys doing tunes like "Sirocco," which is one-third Lloyd Green, one-third Dick Dale, and another third spaghetti western theme. What it comes out as is totally cool.

While their recorded output isn't voluminous, one thing is for sure about Hillbilly Idol. They chose well when they chose a name for their ensemble. Even though we are decades removed from almost everything the term "hillbilly" stands for, Hillbilly Idol does "hillbilly" as well as any modern band I can think of. And they aren't making fun of "hillbilly music" either. Their love for that music and the era that spawned it is never in doubt here. First and foremost a great dance band, they do hillbilly music with honesty and reverence and, in doing so, they are able to put it across as something that is still fresh and vital, not a withered branch of the country music family tree.

* Another fine release from Slewfoot Records of Crane, MO. Buy the album at www.slewfootrecords.com and find out all you wanted to know but were afraid to ask about Hillbilly Idol at www.hillbillyidol.com



Contact William Michael Smith at: wms-at-rockzilla.net

 
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