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| Gretchen Wilson follows up 2004's "Here for the Party" with another strong album, "All Jacked Up."(AP file photo) |
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Record Review: Gretchen Wilson, "All Jacked Up"
By L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / Lincoln Journal Star
Friday, Sep 30, 2005 - 12:03:10 am CDT
Gretchen Wilson tore up country music last year, a proud “Redneck Woman” who was brassy, vulnerable, could rock and cry and was a down-to-earth real person rather than a pop glamour queen.
Now she’s back with “All Jacked Up,” another blast of redneck anthems and ballads that should keep her on the radio for the next year and be playing on the same CD players as “Here for the Party,” her striking debut.
That said, there’s no “Redneck Woman,” “Here for the Party” or “When I Think About Cheatin’” here. But Wilson and her songwriting partners, most notably John Rich of Big & Rich, come close.
She raves and romps about getting wasted on her beloved Jack Daniels on the title cut, puts Paris Hilton in her place on the lively “California Girls,” then sings a little heartache into “Full Time Job,” a mother’s lament. Then she launches into the record’s true gem, “Skoal Ring,” a bouncy love song about a man with a tell-tale faded outline of chewing tobacco can on his back pocket.
That’s followed a couple of songs later by “One Bud Wiser,” aa honky tonk tune that uses a clever play on the popular beer brand, another indicator that Wilson loves the barroom life.
None of those tunes is the safe, easy pop that passes for country these days. Wilson’s still real and doesn’t care what anybody thinks about her.
That’s supposed to be the sentiment of “Politically Uncorrect,” a liberal-bashing duet with Merle Haggard that’s one of the record’s few missteps.
But the real secret to Wilson is that she’s a great country ballad singer, capable of cranking up the weepers like the greats who have come before here. “All Jacked Up” has a handful of those: “He Ain’t Even Cold Yet,” a story of a woman running quickly into the arms of a new lover, the quietly aching “I Don’t Feel Like Loving You Today” and the bluesy “Raining On Me.”
The CD ends with a bonus track — four players, one microphone, one take of Billie Holiday’s “Good Morning Heartache.” Wilson connects with the song. It’s sure not country, but her blues proves she’s a great singer.
That is “Not Bad for a Bartender.” On that autobiographical shuffle, Wilson expresses her surprise at her success, recounts her modest beginning and holds out hope for everyone else. That’s the same Wilson who became a star, and “All Jacked Up” is evidence that she’s no flash in the pan.
Gretchen Wilson
“All Jacked Up”
**** (out of five stars)
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