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AMERICANA Still on the right track Wayne “The Train” Hancock releases new Slingin’ Rhythm By S.D. Henderson WHERE SOME ARTISTS PANDER AND ring, years of hard roads and shift to meet the tastes of widening touring and a motorcycle acci- W dent in 2014 that sidelined him Waudences, Wayne “The Train” Hancock for months. remains deeply rooted within the orthodox canon The road of Texas music. Picking up where Hank Williams FORTUNATELY FOR PEOPLE and Bob Wills left off, Hancock created his own that value traditional music, original blend of tradition. Wayne likes to drive. The hard years and lean times haven’t Best heard from a bar stool or music without the slightest hint dance floor in some honky tonk, of being derivative. changed what he sat out to ac- complish as a kid. Hancock ex- if not over the crackle of a late- Even Hank Williams’ own plains, “I like to drive. We are a night AM country station; grandson, Hank III acknowl- Hancock’s latest release, Slingin’ edges that Hancock “has more blue-collar working band. We don’t have a tour bus; we’re in a Rhythm, is a testament to his Hank in him than either I or 15-passenger van. The road is creativity and dedication to pre- Hank Williams Jr. He is the real serving the sounds that make up deal.” From the opening track natural to me. I like to make people happy and there’s a thing the DNA of Texas music. “Slingin’ Rhythm” through the in the back of my mind that Recorded live in just two days masterful cover of Williams’ “Thy with lifelong producer Lloyd Burdens Are Greater Than Mine,” eventually I’ll get over the hill.” Fortunately for Wayne, he Maines, Slingin’ Rhythm delivers the work is stark and vibrant at found Bloodshot Records in 2001 a smooth and wide ride with a the same time. stripped-down arrangement of The album is full of subtle and in Bloodshot found a record guitar, bass and Hawaiian slide shifts and surprises in between, label that would let him create and be the artist he wanted to be. guitar. You have to listen closely like “Killed Them Both” where to realize there isn’t a drum back- the main character finds his girl As he puts it, “They don’t tell me ing the rhythm section, because with another guy. how to make records and I don’t tell them how to sell records.” it just sounds right from the Hancock’s writing style is jump. straightforward and unapolo- It’s a match that will hopefully getic. It’s an unromantic and real get Hancock over that elusive hill with his music and integrity The sound portrait; as Wayne puts it, “so “THE TRAIN’S” SIGNATURE unlike what country ballads have intact. vocals deftly blend with Bart always been, this guy’s such a Wayne “The Train” Hancock does things his own way with a Weilburg and Greg Harkins’ lead loser he can’t get his head out of reckless abandon and a tenacious guitar work, Rose St. Clair on the his own butt.” hold on his own artistic control. Hawaiian steel guitar and kept It’s an original take on the The best way to experience that on the tracks with Huck Johnson theme. It makes you wanna dance is to see it in person. There are no on bass. The tight recording at his expense. set lists. Backed with a band he schedule translates into a body trusts, every song is a little differ- of work that can be reproduced Early years ent each night. On any given and refined on the road. WAYNE HANCOCK BOARDED night, you’ll catch a glimpse of There is a lot of room for the train years before he became something fiercely original and variety without jumping the track “The Train.” Now based out of raucous, yet timeless and rooted on the album. Hancock weaves a Denton, Hancock was born in in tradition. great deal of Hank Williams and Dallas, and spent his formative As long as Wayne “The Train” Jimmie Rodgers with Bob Wills years in East Texas before a stint Hancock stays on the road and flair seamlessly hybridizing west- in the Marine Corps. Cultivated pointed up the hill, country ern swing and pure honky tonk by music his parents played at music is safe from being turned into pulp from the music mill, or being spread thin like manure from a Tennessee pasture. At the risk of overusing the “I like to drive. We are a blue VICTOR BARAJAS He is scheduled to perform January 14 at The Live Oak Music Hall and Lounge: Wayne “the Train“ Hancock obvious metaphor too much. collar working band. We don’t Wayne Hancock is still on the home, he was captured by a slew should be like power or water, The road didn’t get much right track with Slingin’ Rhythm, have a tour bus; we’re in a 15- of albums his big sister picked that it was something that should easier. and you can depend on “The up on a school trip to the big city. be available to everybody.” After his breakout Thunder- Train” to deliver as promised in passenger van. The road is Hancock’s formative musical Hancock said, “When I was a storms and Neon Signs came out the future. brain steeped in the raw sound kid, I decided I was going to start in 1995, which is easily one of Wayne “The Train” Hancock natural to me. I like to make of Jimmie Rodgers, Woody writing songs and I was going to the greatest country songs ever stops in Fort Worth on January Guthrie, the swing of Bob Wills make real country music.” penned, Hancock experienced 14 for a show at The Live Oak people happy and there’s a and the pure country of Hank That’s an easy enough dream the full force of the beating that Music Hall and Lounge. It’s a Williams and Hank to have as a kid, but when you’re befalls many artists between their great venue for catching good thing in the back of my mind Thompson.He knew from an born twenty some odd years af- artistic vision and life on the music. early age just which set of tracks ter most of your heroes were road. For more information visit that eventually I’ll get over the he’d take to make his mark on firmly planted in the ground, it As he puts it, “I had a couple theliveoak.com. Hancock’s latest the world. can make for a pretty rough road, of really crooked managers that release Slingin’ Rhythm can be hill.” The same thread that com- but Wayne remained steadfast. just about ripped me off of ev- found on iTunes or from your pelled Woody Guthrie to tell his He relates as a kid listening to erything I had.” Hancock en- favorite local purveyor of finely –WAYNE HANCOCK stories to the world pulled at traditional forms of country, “I dured record labels trying to se- crafted Texas music. Hancock in the same way, he got in fights over the music I was duce him into changing his mu- Keep up with “The Train” at ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○ said, “I got the idea that music listening to.” sic for a quick grab at the brass waynehancock.com. JANUARY 2017 BUDDY 11.

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