Apparently, this chap is Johnny Knoxville's first cousin and has been released by Mr Knoxville too. He can be heard laughing in his hyena manner in the background of a few tracks. Tis a shame that this dude has either been co-opted by Knoxville's notoriety into this juvenile bout of unhilarity or he was always so unfunny, as he has writ a song or two for Johnny Cash, Wille Nelson, George Jones, Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams Jr. Or perhaps he's just playing up to Knoxville, who knows. And ayuss, who cares? When you have Rich Hall's Otis Lee Crenshaw Southern redneck pisstake and also old Kinky Friedman out there being funny with wit and intelligence to boot, listening to some old timer witter about wanting a 'Butt Ugly Slut / With a bad drinkin' problem' or 'Oooooweeeee you
sweet thang / How about a little Poontang...' isn't funny at all. What's even unfunnier is that 'Sweet Wine of Sorrow' is a tantalizing taste of what the guy could do without the idiocy. It's a slurp off a washed-out country classic. As is the eerily Johnny Cash like 'She's A Baby When She Cries' which wouldn't be out of place on 'Nebraska' either, same with 'Horse I Wanna Ride' having hints of old folkie-fave 'City Of
New Orleans' winding in and out. On these few precious
moments you can see that this really coulda been a guy who'd written songs for Cash 'n' co and played with Guy Clark and Steve Earle. To trot out a trite but truism, it goes swiftly from the sublime to the ridiculous. Especially as '...When She Cries' is sandwiched between 'Chicken Song' and 'Fryin' Bacon Nekkid'. Really, anyone with half a brain should download 'Sweet Wine of Sorrow', 'She's A Baby When She Cries' and maybe, a big bad badass motherfuckin' MAYBE, 'Counterman' as well. The only vaguely funny thing here. But you'd do well to invest your dolly in the Kinkster or Otis Lee Crenshaw.

To be kind, we could call this SillyBilly. But that would invest it with some sort of charm and likeability.
__________________________________________________

-Stu Gibson