Hank Wilson's Back

by

Leon Russell

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I could actually put this on my dad's old counsel "hi-fi" record player and sit with my parents and enjoy the music. Yep. Back in 1973 my parents thought their 23 year old son with the long hair and strange friends had become a commie! But then, I came over one evening with this album and, voila! It was just like I had combed and parted my hair; shaved and spashed on some Old Spice; and pulled on a polyester polo shirt! I really was an American! What a hoot this album was back then. I loved it. Only Leon with his connections could round up the musicians he has on this album...great c&w players. Oh, I was a rocker and honestly, never did like country that much, but this album was different...and yet, it didn't try to "rock a billy" the music so we'd accept it...just played it traditionally and perfectly...maybe the instrumental breaks were a tich longer and packed with pickin', fiddlin' and grinnin'. I love the renditions of the great country standards that were selected for this album...it brought the kids of the 60's home to the parents and gave them something they could agree on for at least one evening! Great old time country music for the parents and a freaky guy with long hair and beard singing the lead for the kids! Wonderful memories for me in this album. It was too long missing from my collection...it's nice to have it on CD and enjoy those old standards the way they were meant to be enjoyed--with the stamp of approval of the WW-II generation--but don't let that scare you off...this is Leon, and it's great music played perfectly by the best country pickers of that time.

I know a lot of people like this album. The selection of country classics is great, and it put country music in front of a lot of us kids who normally only heard rock and roll. I remembered it fondly from the early seventies, but that was before I had heard most of these tunes by the original artists and a host of other inspired performers.

I just listened to it again for the first time in 25 years and was surprised and disappointed at how downright bad it sounded. I found Leon's thin, whiney voice horribly irritating. The band, a great bunch of musicians, sounds bored for the most part and does nothing to carry him. A couple of the songs are played at a much faster tempo than they should be, displaying a real lack of feeling for the spirit of the originals. I have heard lots of better performances on front porches and in living rooms by people who will never cut an album.

Just for fun, I played a Bill Monroe performance of "Uncle Pen", then played Leon's version. Then George Jones' "The Window Up Above" and then Leon's. Then Hank Williams' Jambalya, then Leon's. In every case I had to force myself to listen to Leon all the way through. He brought absolutely nothing good to the material.

Sorry, folks. Maybe a lot of you would like this album. I honestly didn't, even though I was prepared to love it. For my money, if you want to hear Leon Russell doing George Jones material you should buy the Bradley Barn sessions where he stays in the background and lets the country guys handle the heavy stuff.