I remember seeing Bob Wayne play the Paard at The Hague and thinking he had a real rock and roll attitude - as if Wayne had to be emulating any rocker, when country music has its own share of bad boys. Johnny Cash certainly had a hell of a lot more rock and roll attitude than most rockers. Even so, I always considered Wayne as somehow bridging alt.rock and country, so I wasn't too surprised when I saw he had recorded a whole album of rock and pop hits. That might have counted as a novelty, if Hayseed Dixie hadn't already been doing it for 15 years. But, good as they are in what they do, Hayseed Dixie have never been able to shake the label of the "novelty act" whereas Bob Wayne is considered a bona fide Outlaw Country artist, also known for his collaboration with Hank Williams III - and Hank's name sure carries some weight in country circles. Bob doesn't usually sing covers, not even live, but in this case he lost a bet and, as a result, he had to record a version of Meghan Trainor's pop hit "All About That Bass". What started as a joke soon became his next project. He thought that, if Johnny Cash can cover Nine Inch Nails and U2 and make them his own, then nothing's off limits. So Bob tried his own spin on a bunch of songs. Some of them were stone cold rock classics, others were really random choices. The common thread was that, while Cash's cover albums were acoustic and had a sober quality, Wayne chose to record with a full band and to present upbeat versions with banjos and fiddles replacing electric guitars. Which results in, if nothing else, an album that is fun to listen to from beginning to end. It doesn't take much to transform rockabilly to hillbilly, so opener "Rock And Roll" sounds great, an upbeat country number with nice harmonica and lots of hoots by Bob. "Sympathy For The Devil" is a hoedown with supersonic fiddle and banjo, Offspring's "The Kids Aren't Alright" sounds great (once again the fiddle steals the show), but on "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "I Shot The Sheriff" he goes for a talking blues vocal style that doesn't suit the former song. "Come Together" is one of the songs that don't need too much changing to fit to his style, while the album closes with Ozzy's "Crazy Train", a relaxed version that reminded me of Pat Boone's. Which brings us to the -more unexpected- pop covers: "All About The Bass" is re-imagined with mariachi horns and female backing vocalists. It's a joke, and it sounds like it, but at least it's a funny one! Adele's James Bond anthem "Skyfall" on the other hand sounds fantastic, you'd think it was originally written this way i.e. as a George Jones/Tammy Wynette-style country duet. Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" and Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive" are almost unrecognizable, but work surprisingly well as as honky tonk country, as does the Red Hot Chilli Peppers ballad "Under The Bridge". "Disturbia" (originally by Rihanna) is the only song here I wasn't already familiar with - again an upbeat country number with nice fiddle and a slightly menacing vocal. Bob Wayne's choice to mostly try his hand on transforming overly familiar songs had me prepared for a sort of Weird Al Yankovic-meets-Hayseed Dixie parody. It sometimes does work like that, but at the same time it's a highly enjoyable country and western CD featuring Bob's trademark country drawl, imaginative arrangements and virtuoso playing (have I mentioned the fiddle already?) Like Johnny Cash's American Recordings, it demands a sequel!
**** for Rock And Roll (Led Zeppelin), Skyfall (Adele), Sympathy For The Devil (The Rolling Stones), Crazy (Gnarls Barkley), Under The Bridge (Red Hot Chili Peppers), The Kids Aren't Alright (The Offspring)
*** for I Shot The Sheriff (Bob Marley), Radioactive (Imagine Dragons), Come Together (The Beatles), Disturbia (Rihanna), All About That Bass (Meghan Trainor), Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne)
** for Sweet Child O' Mine (Guns N' Roses)
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