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Straight to Hell
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Barnes and Noble
Straight to Hell
Current price: $24.49
Barnes and Noble
Straight to Hell
Current price: $24.49
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Size: CD
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Anyone hoping that
's "Hellbilly"
band
would finally make it onto one of his albums is still out of luck, but
's third solo effort
comes close to getting their no-quarter spirit onto plastic, if not their sound. Taking the no-frills hard-
sound of 2002's
as a starting point,
pumps a good bit more darkness into the mix; mostly recorded at home on a digital portastudio,
begins with a sample of
'
interrupted by a burst of demonic laughter, which then segues into the title tune, a testimony to a life of cheap thrills and dangerous living that sounds like a classic
rounding the corners at 90-miles-an-hour with empty bottles of bourbon propping open the windows. A similar mix of old-school
and chemically-fueled rebellion run through songs like
and
and even the less menacing tunes like
boast too much swagger and grit to fit comfortably on the radio next to
or
. While
's self-mythologizing outlaw stance is not entirely unlike that of his father, there's a crazier and more sinister energy to
than
has ever conjured up on record, and numbers like
eloquently testify to his notion that bad craziness is a long and rich tradition along the margins of Nashville. (He also has a few things to say about
hanging out with
on
to confirm he's most certainly not turning into his dad.) The album's most extreme departure point, however, is the bonus audio collage
which combines a handful of high-lonesome tunes with layers of
noise, bits of found dialogue,
-wise echo and reverb effects, stray telephone messages, and sound effects ranging from thunderstorms to gurgling bong water. There's a pure and soulful musical vision at the heart of
no matter how much
lashes out against the confines of current
music and messes with the form, and that's what makes him most valuable as an outlaw -- there's lots of long-haired dope-smoking rednecks out there, but not many that can tap into the sweet and dirty heart of American music the way
does, and
proves he's got a whole lot to say on that particular subject. ~ Mark Deming