Gretchen Wilson is back with a vengeance
After a three-year hiatus from touring and releasing new music, award-winning multi-platinum singer, songwriter, producer, Gretchen Wilson is back and ready to conquer the charts again.
Ready to Get Rowdy is the title of her new 12-cut album on Redneck Records. In the same vein as Redneck Woman and Ready to Party, the new album commands attention. She is back and country fans better take notice.
Wilson burst onto the scene back in 2004 with Redneck Woman and shot to superstardom overnight. After a nice run on the country music scene, Wilson took time off to focus on being a mom to her daughter, and to run her own label, Redneck Records.
The pride of Pocahontas, Illinois is back and as good as ever. Teaming back up with Blake Chancey to produce an album that we can actually call country, Wilson also wrote or co-wrote all of the 12 songs with some of Nashville’s best and most seasoned songwriters.
The new album has all the ingredients to be a hit. There’s “Stacy,” which tells the tale of a woman who needs to be the center of attention all the time. Wilson sings, “Ain’t it so sad when girls like you make women like me look bad.”
The harmonica work is fantastic and gives the melody a special flavour. What a great energetic way to open the album. “Salt Mines” could very easily become a single. This is real country, both in instrumentation, lyrics and in the way Gretchen Wilson delivers it.
The number describes a woman who would leave her drunken slob of a husband if only the physical aspect of their relationship didn’t go so well.
“Rowdy” will surely turn out to be the country anthem of the summer. Definitely Wilson is not afraid of being too country and her choices of songs, arrangements and instrumentation are great.
Wilson also has a beautiful duet called “Bad Feeling.” She is joined by longtime friend Kid Rock on the album’s bluesy, horn-backed, powerful ballad. Their voices both compete and complement at once.
It is a soulful number about too people parting ways. She knows he is leaving, and nothing she does or tries will make him stay. The two first met in 2004, when he and Hank Williams Jr. appeared in her “Redneck Woman” video. They have collaborated many times during live shows.
“Summertime Town,” paints the portrait of beaches closing up and people driving back after vacation. The message is clear as it is about a woman not wanting to be a man’s fling if he will be leaving. She’s not interested.
“Whiskey and My Bible” is a slower song about a woman who’s trying to hold on and keep on living. Religion and whiskey are the two things that keep her hanging on. It is a very emotional song which showcases a softer side of Wilson in a rare vulnerable moment.
“Letting Go of Hanging On” offers some really nice steel guitar and banjo. It tells the story of a woman fed up of trying to save her relationship. She decides to let go and call it quits.
In “I Ain’t That Desperate Yet,” the lady is unwilling to change her ways just to make someone happy. This number offers a great and positive message, to never settle for anything less than perfection in a relationship.
“Hard Earned Money” is about how hard it is to earn money that is really so easily spent. “Mary Kay & Maybelline” is another very emotional song. It is about hiding the way you feel inside with makeup so people don’t know what a mess you are in the inside.
“A Little Loretta” is a fun song. First of all, it references Loretta Lynn. It’s all about a woman who has had enough of her man going out in bars and cheating on her and now she’s “on the warpath.”
It immediately makes you think of Loretta Lynn’s song “Your Squaw is on the Warpath.” The final track, “Big Wood Deck,” is just a fun summertime song. It is about the pleasure of sitting on a big wood deck with a beer in the sun.
While the songs may be new, thematically, they feel like they could easily have been part of the list of possibilities for her 2004 debut, Here For The Party. Production quality on all her albums has been very good and this one is no exception.
Her absence from the recording scene caused for many to consider her success as a flash in the pan, a one hit wonder. Well, she is now back with a vengeance. She will hit the road for a nationwide summer tour — her first in three years with The Loving Mary Band backing her. A great country album for your collection.