“I Got Your Country Right Here,” CD review submitted to Country’s Chatter.
By Andrew W. Griffin
Red Dirt Report, editor
reddirtreporter@gmail.com
CD REVIEW: Gretchen Wilson – I Got Your Country Right Here (Redneck Records) 2010
You have to give it to self-proclaimed “Redneck Woman” Gretchen Wilson. She’s a fighter and she still has plenty to say, as is evident on her new disc I Got Your Country Right Here.
Despite being dropped from a major record label, Wilson forged ahead with her Redneck Records label. She wasn’t going to let the antiseptic Nashville suits prevent her from doing country music her way.
And for the most part, I Got Your Country Right Here lives up to its bold title. It’s a rootsier affair that surpasses her 2007 disc One Of The Boys.
The blue-collar anthem “Work Hard, Play Harder” is pure Wilson. Sassy, rockin’ and featuring some nice fiddle work, this is one of the strongest tracks on the new disc.
“I’m Only Human” is a pedal-steel-powered ballad done in the way Wilson does them. There’s a self-assured attitude underlying the sentiment.
It’s a cat fight on “The Earrings Song,” a song with a “Redneck Woman” bounce that would make Loretta Lynn and Tanya Tucker proud.
Wilson knows who her audience is. Middle class, working folks. “Trucker Man” may not be as accessible as, say, “Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)” by Alabama, or a tender ode to truckers on “Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses” by Kathy Mattea, but for Wilson it works.
The Tea Party-embracing, rabble-rousing country-rocker “Blue Collar Done Turned Red” gets topical at times: “Now there’s bailout bills and fat cat deals in the Senate and the House a-going on,” Wilson sings. “We’ve got to stick to our guns and remember the ones who made this country strong.”
On “Outlaws and Renegades,” Wilson laments about the lack of hardcore country singers who speak their mind and take on real issues.
As the song trails off, Wilson name drops as she speaks/sings: “I’m talkin’ about Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings, I mean hell son, give us a little Willie Nelson.”
Closing the album with “I’d Love To Be Your Last,” a classical-styled acoustic guitar is plucked and a more tender-voiced Wilson sings a love song that seems almost out of place amidst this rough-and-rowdy set. Still, it strangely works. If anything, Wilson will surprise you from time-to-time amidst the expected honky-tonkers and Skynyrd-styled rockers.
Having caught Gretchen Wilson at a Louisiana gig on her Here For The Party tour back in ’04, the Illinois native puts on a great show. And as I am reminded on I Got Your Country Right Here, Wilson records some great country music. Grade – B
Much thanks to Andrew for the CD Review. I’ll talk to you all sometime this weekend! Hope you have a fantastic Friday, and a wonderful weekend!
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