Recent release:Shooter Jennings-Family Man

Family Man marks Shooter Jennings's return to his alternative country roots. As good as his Heirophant side project was, this is a welcome return indeed. His sound has always been one part country and one part rock, but in many ways this may be his most country record yet. Make no mistake, the rock and roll heartbeat runs through this release, but the fiddle and harmonica make enough appearances here to dress the material in just the right amount of western duds to make this album a treat for fans and newbies alike.

The concept of family runs through this album, though not always front and center. Some of the better songs here like "Daddy's Hands", "The Family Tree" and the unnecessarily controversial "Southern Family Anthem" touch on it directly. Others such as "The Long Road Ahead" and "The Deed And The Dollar" approach it from the angle of a relationship. The other constant here is quality musicianship and quality songs.

Unfortunately, there are a few misfires. "The Black Dog" is a meandering dark ghost story that never really goes anywhere, "Summer Dreams" is nice but fails to make much of an impact. And closer "Born Again" is a valiant effort that just misses the mark. Normally three off songs wouldn't be bad, but there are only ten songs on the disc. Fortunately the good far outnumbers the bad and make this a disc worth buying.

Yet there are still a few questionable choices even in the good stuff. For example, Tom Morello's guitar sounds fine when he's raging at the machine (see what I did there?) but he probably shouldn't be guesting on a potential hit country song like "The Long Road Ahead". And as far as "Southern Family Anthem" goes, Shooter should have known a title like that would cause people to give special attention to the track. It does reinforce some negative stereotypes about the South but these problems are nationwide, the song is just set in a Southern family. All true stories from his extended family according to Shooter, but I'm not convinced. Besides, if the word "Southern" were removed most people complaining would have no problem. At any rate, the song is an attempt at a Drive-By Truckers style song, not only in it's sound and structure but vocally too. I like the song but it's a rip off, let's face it. And as for the previously mentioned "Black Dog", well, Jennings produced this CD by himself so that's the kind of stuff you get when there's no one around to say no.

But enough complaining. There's a lot to like here. More than once there will be reminders of Waylon that should warm the soul. The rock songs are fun ("Manifesto No. 4" comes into mind), "Daddy's Hands" just might bring a tear to the eye, and the country blues of "The Family Tree" will make you want to lay around the shanty, mama, and put a good buzz on. Ten Internet points if you got that reference and are humming to yourself right now.

So all in all, a solid release, though a flawed one. But definitely worth your ten bucks at Wal Mart.

4 out of 5 Daves.

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