In the late '90s,
Andre Williams
was undergoing a bit of a renaissance as small, independent labels realized that this
R&B
/
rap
pioneer still had plenty of gas left in the tank; they started recording him again for the first time in several decades. It also helped that enlightened times give the more salacious aspects of his art a wider playground than they had back in the 1950s and early '60s, when he was cutting his streetwise, spoken-word classics for labels like
Fortune
and
Chess
. Efforts for
St. George
and others focused on the style and substance of those landmark recordings, but this one put a different spin on the
sound.
Backed by the
country-rock
group
the Sadies
, this is
Williams
'
country
album. He applies his rappin' mastery to
Johnny Paycheck
's
"Pardon Me (I've Got Someone to Kill),"
Leon Payne
"Psycho,"
Harlan Howard
"Busted,"
Eddy Arnold
"Easy on the Eyes,"
Lefty Frizzell
"I'm an Old, Old Man."
His patented slow drawl makes these songs his own, while the band provides minimal support, rife with twangy guitars, mandolins, fiddles, and dobros throughout.
and guitarist
Dallas Good
co-wrote everything else, with
"She's a Bag of Potato Chips,"
the moody and downright eerie
"I Can Tell,"
and the goofy opener
"Hey Truckers"
being standouts. It's the aural antidote to the CMA Awards. ~ Cub Koda