Stephen King rocks (Shooter Jennings – Black Ribbons)

Amazon info

Stephen King is a ‘radio DJ’ on a new rock album that really rocks IMHO. How did I hear about this album? I sometimes listen to one of the best indie radio programs in Omaha, 89.7 the river’s New Day Rising. I heard a song that I really liked  called “Don’t Feed the Animals,” and I had to find out more.  Turns out, the song was from Shooter Jennings’ (son of Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter) new album called Black Ribbons.  Although Shooter has done country albums before, this is NOT a country album, but it’s genre is definitely hard to define. You’d have to say it’s a rock album with elements of Pink Floyd and NIN ( and maybe some southern rock elements), all of which I love. I’d actually been listening to a lot of Pink Floyd lately anyway, and when I went to Amazon to listen to the samples, I was immediately hooked. Shooter’s album is definitely a ‘concept album,’ which I always find hard to resist.

Shooter Jennings

The first song on the album, Wake Up!, is available as a free download on Amazon. It starts out sort of Pink Floyd-y and then really rocks halfway through. I love some of the lyrics of this song — “Life is a movie. We are all actors. Don’t let them edit you out.” After this first song, we get to hear the radio DJ, Will o’ the Wisp (Stephen King) talk about government control and how this is the last night of radio broadcast freedom. King has several interludes during the album that are all excellent, and then he meets with an expected end if you’re following the concept of the album and listening to it all the way through. I loved it!

The second song is “Triskaidekaphobia,” which means the fear of 13. The lyrics of that song start out

When I check in to 1410
I know what room I’m really in tonight.
Screams from the room coming down the hall
Take me back to a place that I can’t recall in my mind.

Has anybody else watched 1408 with John Cusack (excellent movie, btw)? The story was written, of course, by Stephen King and the rest of the lyrics allude to happenings in the story/movie as well. It’s a great song and one of my favorites from the album.

Another favorite is “God Bless Alabama,” which is a tribute to his 2 year old daughter, Alabama Gypsy Rose. As to the other songs of the album, some have punk elements, some psychedelic rock, some country, and there are even some modern pop elements with Auto-Tune (which I normally hate) if you can believe it. Very eclectic, very different, and very good.

As this album was produced out of his home (and another producer’s home) after Shooter separated from his label and management, I imagine this album is a statement to them and to the music industry as to how generic and bland some of the radio play is today. In fact, I found out after doing some research that some stations refuse to play Shooter’s music or that of Hank III’s (son of Hank Williams, Jr.). Heck, they don’t even play their dads’ music anymore, let alone theirs. All this was sort of new to me and it was definitely intriguing to be made more aware of ‘the powers that be’ in the music industry.

Anyway, yes, the album has some bad language and is a little ‘out there’, but I’m a somewhat conservative 42 year old female, and I loved it. It’s just good music and a very relevant concept. Period.

(If you’ve watched Walk the Line and thought the guy that played Waylon Jennings was a dead ringer, you’re right, it was Shooter Jennings!)