Exclusive: Bob Wayne - Till The Wheels Fall Off
Writer: Rachel Smith on 30th April, 2012
Do you have your rhinestone boots on? And your Stetson hat? Good, because we’re going partying with Bob Wayne: a formidable musician whose press release describes him as “a raucous, rambunctious storytelling rabble-rouser”. Wayne’s third album, Till the Wheels Fall Off is a riotous journey through Texas. It’s live fast, drink faster. There’s no way to accurately describe Wayne’s sound conclusively, so just think Johnny Cash in his Man in Black phase but on every type of energy drink available in supermarkets.
Based in Nashville, Wayne has acted as guitar tech for Hank III, sold t-shirts at merchandise stands and could rival Seasick Steve in the rambling roadie awards. He writes out of the back of his motorhome, on the road and in different towns: his songs written to capture that nomad lifestyle of spontaneity, living the dream, and drinking lots of bourbon.
So what about the music? It’s raucous, it’s fun, and some tracks are so country you almost want to start an impromptu barn dance on the spot. Songs like Devil’s Son and All Those One Night Stands throw you into the party complete with a glass of moonshine, and they are delightfully riotous in their lively beat and lightning fast fiddling.
Highlights include the chugging Cashian beat of Hunger in My Soul and the femme fatale of Lyza, as these songs give Wayne the space to flaunt his lyrical ability, revealing him as a surprising raconteur. Wayne sings ‘all my searching / Have I become the song?’, ‘I’ve finally fed that hunger in my soul’. Definition in a seemingly undefinable nomad lifestyle, succinctly and thoughtfully sung.
Wayne’s songs are drunk bar anthems, dark tales of murder and suicide, of dying devoted to the road. It’s a shamelessly bluegrass style of music you have to get used to, but if you want a riotous journey through the whiskey-soaked bars of Texas, Bob Wayne is a formidable and tour guide. It’s filthy, it’s scandalous, but it’ll be a hell of a party.
Order Till the Wheels Fall Off on Amazon here.