Columbus, GA native Joey Allcorn titled his first full-length album, 50 Years Too Late. On the surface, it would seem an apt title for the 25 year-old Joey, since his overall musical style is deeply steeped in the ghosts of Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell and Ernest Tubb. On the other hand, dig a little deeper and in reality, it becomes apparent that Joey’s right on time. While the sad truth is, he is 50 years too late for “stardom” as dictated by current Nashville standards, the upside is that the musical landscape has changed drastically over the past decade. Given the technological advances over the past decade, “independents” (artists and labels alike) have risen, and no longer do the major labels have sole control of the industry. The result of the rise of the independent music scene is that today, neither artists nor music listeners are constrained by the “rules” of the old guard major labels, rules that reduced music from being an individualistic art form to a commercial “product” made to appeal to the broadest mass audience, something that even music legends like Hank Williams weren’t immune from. As great as it is, one can only wonder how much greater even the legendary Hank Williams’ legacy would have been had he been allowed by his label to record all of the songs he wanted to, the way he wanted to.

 

This is where Joey Allcorn steps up to the plate. With veteran producer Tim Lawrence at the helm, Joey’s joined in the studio for 50 Years Too Late by ace musicians Don Herron (BR549, Bob Dylan), Andy Gibson (Hank III) and guitar virtuoso Johnny Hiland, while Hank III and Those Poor Bastards drop by to deliver guest vocal turns. He opens the album with its title track, “50 Years Too Late,” a shuffling, hillbilly country-blues where Joey mournfully laments about missing out on country music’s golden age. From there he goes on to recreate the sounds, moods and atmosphere of that golden era of music he’s come to love. The bouncy melody, shuffling beat and expertly delivered yodels of “I Just Don’t Know,” belie the song’s lyrics of lost love and heartache in a way that recalls Hank Williams’ rendition of “Lovesick Blues.” Fiddle dominates the mid-tempo shuffle “Here I Go Again,” with Joey effectively providing a mournful ache to his vocals in this tale of longing despite rejection. Again, an up-tempo fiddle and steel driven melody and two-step beat frame lyrics that paint the portrait of a broken relationship and a parting of the way in “So Say Goodbye.”

 

Joey doesn’t always leave himself open to wallowing in heartache and makes a couple of pre-emptive strikes. On the blistering, footstomping honky tonker, “Tired Of Being Blue,” he serves up a defiant done-me-wrong kiss off. The album’s centerpiece is “Don’t You Call On Me,” a song that most closely evokes Hank Williams with it’s melody structure and yodeling opening, while at the same time incorporates many of the elements from country music’s golden era that includes a swinging, shuffle beat, a dreamy steel solo and honky tonk piano. The song’s lyric’s revolve around another kiss off of sorts- a man who’s been wronged and has moved on, makes it clear to the woman who done him wrong that there will be no second chance with him for her. Joey moves over to the darker side with the brilliantly moody train song, “Son Of A Ramblin’ Man,” the lonely tale of a lost soul, while the equally strong country-blues “Alabama Chain Gang” revolves around a prison inmate. Joey perfectly delivers a recitative with “The Execution,” a bone chilling and heart-wrenching tale of the unintended tragic consequences of a poor choice. These songs are tied together by the waltz, “This Ain’t Montgomery,” a duet with Hank Williams III. The song is a mournful reflection on the passing of the golden age of country music as it also acknowledges that time passes and things change, and while the music will move forward, there are some who will always preserve the past and it’s rich history, or to sum it up, “I don’t know where the music is going…I know where it’s been.”    

 

Where Hank Williams was deeply influenced by the blues which he incorporated into his hillbilly music, Joey was first influenced by the grunge-rock of the late 80s/early 90s and punk rock. Then in his mid-teens, he got his first taste of Hank Williams and fell head over heels in love with Hank and shortly after, the country music of that era. He soon came to realize the appeal grunge and punk held for him was because it was based on the same basic themes of Hank’s music- pain and suffering, heartache and depression, sin and salvation. On three of the album’s songs, touches of Joey’s grunge/punk influences collide with his traditional old school country fare. “Like I Never Will” is a lovely steel driven heartbreak ballad, but the use of anguished fuzzed out guitar on the chorus effectively conveys the sheer depth of pain. In a snarling indictment of current day Nashville, Joey’s punk influences come out in the blistering country-rocker, “In Nashville, Tennessee,” where he proclaims he’s “trying to take country back from Nashville, Tennessee- where they killed country.”  The album’s true oddity is the gothic, creepy tale of death and resurrection, “Graveyard Bound,” that features the goth-country outfit, Those Poor Bastards, a song that moves back and forth between dirge-like melody and guttural depravity. Despite the modern influences incorporated into this trio of song, they still remain undeniable country to the bone.

 

Joey Allcorn’s warm Georgia drawl elicits a pleasing twang with just a hint of nasal quality that recalls the time when country music was referred to as “hillbilly” and “country-blues.” He effortlessly nails yodels and conveys a high lonesome feel with ease. Fiddle, steel and stand-up bass permeate his songs of heartache, cheatin’, drifters, prison, death, substance abuse and consequences- real life themes that have long been absent from country music, at least the kind currently emanating from current day Music Row. Despite his love affair with country music’s 40s and 50s heyday, Joey Allcorn doesn’t simply mimic the style, he also brings a modern edginess to the music that carries the traditional torch into the present, moving it forward while preserving it’s past. With 50 Years Too Late, Joey Allcorn draws from country music’s past and gives us a glimpse of country music’s future.

 

On The Net: www.joeyallcorn.com

 

©AnnMarie Harrington, TakeCountryBack August 2006