Concerts: February: Gretchen Wilson

Concert Review: Gretchen Wilson.  I try not to turn down the chance to see a live musical act.

To be fair, Gretchen Wilson is the complete opposite of what I usually listen to.

She is interesting to me, though. For starters, she is from about 50 miles from where I grew up. It is hard to think of anyone my age from my area that is more famous than her.

Everyone will likely know her 2004 hit "Redneck Woman" which put her on the map. She was showered with Grammies, ACM and CMA Awards.She had 5 songs hit the Country Top 5 and Pop Top 100, and was a solid mainstay on the Country scene up until at least 2013, when she recorded an album of rock covers. The last song I heard by her on (Satellite) radio was a cover of the James Gang's "Funk # 49"

I was not sure what to make of Wilson, but that she had showed a rock side was promising to me. "Redneck Woman" was a huge hit, and I wasn't sure a decade-plus later what I thought of it. It's a very slick produced singalong that is very much in line with a history of Achy Breaky/Urban Cowboy country music that is stronger today than ever. Yet, country music is short of songs by strong females, so it also owes to a lineage of "D-I-V-O-R-C-E", "Harper Valley PTA" and "The Pill."

Wilson, of course was discovered by Big and Rich. John Rich wrote and sang some of Lonestar's biggest hits, before making a bigger name for himself. Rich is responsible for Wilson's success; but also responsible for the auditory excrement of Big &Rich's  wedding floor staple "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy). Rich also famously won the 4th Season of Celebrity Apprentice. The likeable Rich who won the competition in 2011 over Gary Busey, LaToya Jackson and Lil Jon among others- was the highest ratings ever achieved by that series- and thus, is probably just as responsible for the fact Marco Rubio isn't in the White House right now.

So, is Wilson a country rebel or a slick studio concoction?  Well, it's complicated, but I am going with the former.The first thing you notice about Wilson is that she can flat out sing. If she had been given the fortune of being born and becoming famous in a pre-Napster, pre-TRL, pre-American Idol world, it seems likely that she would be revered in ways that Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, and (probably her closest comparison) Tanya Tucker are and were. A multi-decade career as a country legend. There's no studio trickery needed. She has a voice for country. That Merle Haggard sang on her album is all you need to know for originalty

The second thing you notice about Wilson is her rock side. She cuts through faithful covers of Foriegner’s “Urgent”, Heart’s “Barracuda” and Zep’s “Rock N Roll”. The band even rip through an instrumental medley that references Van Halen, The Who, Queen, ZZ Top, the Scorpions, AC/DC and the Eagles. No doubt in my mind that Gretchen couldn’t pull an “Adam Lambert” and front any classic arena rock band.  Her concert is as much as FM Rock as it is Country.

Indeed, it’s not surprising that she ends up there. There’s no real spot for the 38 Special/Steve Miller/ZZ Top crowd and it has eventually found a camaraderie with Country via artists like Hank Williams Jr and Charlie Daniels. Which is why people like Kid Rock, Brett Michaels, and Jon Bon Jovi find themselves on the country side of the fence in recent years, and Don Henley and Stevie Nicks are as important to country music as George Jones.

Little surprise too, that for Wilson’s last big hit, 2010's “Work Hard, Party Harder”, she lost a court battle to the Robinson Brothers for veering too close to the Black Crowes’ “Jealous Again”. Wilson is a rocker and is likely more a true heir to Joe Walsh than any kid out there with a guitar that Pitchfork is covering today. She has a voice for country, a voice for rock, and honestly could get onstage and hold her own at any Blues Festival.

At the end of the day, Wilson isn’t really my kind of music. Her anthemic arena rock and country isn’t my preference. She really isn’t a Lucinda Williams or Roseanne Cash style songwriter. But for what she does, she is good, it’s just not for me, and that’s ok.

Best moment: the Bakersfield stroll of “When it Rains (I pour). “

 

Wilson protege Jessie G opened. Despite the name, she was pretty straight pop country. She definitely could sing, though I suspect you could say the same for dozens of opening acts this weekend. She can sing and she is beautiful. though in a world of Taylor Swifts and Kelsea Ballerinis, I suspect she may already be too old for that to matter. She has what seems like a made for charts hit in “Army Ranger” about loving a soldier overseas.

Her set ended with a cover medley which is surely a Rushmore of influences - Joplin, Jett, Benatar and Ethridge.  Admirable, but like those women, she will have to find her own distinct style to make an impression.

"Gretchen Wilson When it rains" (Watch on YouTube)