The Almeria Club Recordings

Performer: Hank Williams, Jr.
Artist: Kid Rock; Nickel Creek
Engineer: Jeff Watkins; Bob Campbell-Smith
Producer: Chuck Howard; Chuck Howard; Hank Williams, Jr.
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Personnel includes: Hank Williams Jr. (vocals, dobro, banjo); Kid Rock (guitar, background vocals); Rick Vito (acoustic & electric guitars, dobro); James Burton, Wayne "Animal" Turner, Kenny Olson (guitar); "Cowboy" Eddie Long (steel guitar); Donny Herron (lap steel guitar, fiddle); Tramp Camp (mandolin, fiddle); Larry Franklin (fiddle); Jimmy Hall, Heidi Newfield (harmonica); Ira Dean (horn, bass, background vocals); Reese Wynans (piano, Hammond B-3 organ); Jimmy Nichols (keyboard); James "Hutch" Hutchinson (bass); Re'chard Fataar (drums). Nickel Creek: Sean Watkins (acoustic guitar); Chris Thile (mandolin); Sara Watkins (fiddle). Recorded at The Almeira Club, Almeira, Alabama, The Greater Pentecostal Temple, Kansas City, Kansas and Louisiana Hayride, Shreveport, Louisiana. Includes liner notes by Hank Williams, Jr and Kay Knight. Personnel: Hank Williams, Jr. (dobro, banjo); Kid Rock (vocals, electric guitar); Ira Dean (vocals, horns); Rick Vito (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, dobro); Sean Watkins (acoustic guitar); Wayne Turner, James Burton, Kenny Olson (electric guitar); Eddie Long (steel guitar); Don Herron (lap steel guitar, fiddle); Chris Thile (mandolin); Larry Franklin, Sara Watkins (fiddle); Heidi Newfield, Jimmy Hall (harmonica); James R. Horn (saxophone); Steve Herman (trumpet); John Hinchey (trombone); Reese Wynans (piano); Jimmy Nichols (keyboards); Ricky Fataar (drums). Recording information: Almeric, AL (03/03/2001-05/10/2001); Kansas City, KS (03/03/2001-05/10/2001); Shreveport, LA (03/03/2001-05/10/2001). The words self, parody, and Hank Williams, Jr. have been inextricably tied for such a long time -- nowhere more so than in his 1999 album, Stormy, where he seemed like he was auditioning for a sketch comedy, competing with Bob Odenkirk's send-up on Mr. Show -- that the spare, gritty, compelling 2002 release, The Almeria Club Recordings, comes as a bracing surprise. It's not that Williams Jr. has left all of his silly self-mythologizing behind, or that he's now developed a disdain for the ridiculous -- witness "Big Top Women," who "sure do bounce around," or how he's decided that he's "X-Treme Country," or how he mentions hanging with Kid Rock and Hank III on "The 'F' Word" -- but all that is part of his character, and it's much more acceptable now that he's reclaimed the other thing that's defined him -- namely, a talent for raw, hardcore honky tonk that's genuine, so genuine that it gives the rockers passion and the ballads a real melancholy streak. This, according to the man himself, may have been inspired by the location of the recording -- The Almeria Club, allegedly the site where a Hank Williams Sr. performance was interrupted by a gun-toting man looking for his cheating wife -- and if that's so, he should continue to record there, because he hasn't sounded this committed, this alive, in years. Even when the album gets silly, which it does frequently, it's buttressed by a crackerjack band at the top of their game and a set of really good songs. More than that, Williams Jr. clearly has some emotional stake in the songs, whether it's his salute to dead friends "Cross on the Highway," the post-September 11, 2001 "America Will Survive," "Last Pork Chop," the second of two tributes to Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas here, or "Tee Tot Song," dedicated to the man who taught Hank Williams Sr. how to play guitar. The end result is a stripped-down, fun, gutsy, and even moving album that offers a welcome musical reminder that Hank Williams, Jr. is indeed his father's son (something that he's never stopped reminding us verbally throughout the years). ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine The Almeria Club was a hard-edged, Alabama honky-tonk that was the site of a hot-tempered 1947 incident that became part of the lore of Hank Williams. More than 50 years later, Hank Jr. recorded an album in that very same notorious joint as a tribute to his father's rebel reputation. In keeping with the down-home theme, the production is agreeably raw and rootsy, bouncing from rockabilly ("Go Girl Go") to jump blues ("If the Good Lord's Willin'") and the ZZ Top-like blues-rock (the salacious double entendre "Last Pork Chop") that is a staple of Hank Jr.'s work. In keeping with his image as a flag-waving Charlie Daniels-like figure, Williams caps off the album with "America Will Survive," a post-9/11 anthem of transcendence that is ironically one of the least country-flavored tunes on the album.

Entertainment Weekly (1/11/02, p.71) - "...A surprisingly meaty set of blues, boogie, and deep-dish country....carrying on family tradition with renewed fervor and form." - Ratings: B+

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