by Paul T. Mueller
It’s hard to tell whether Hard Working Americans, #2 on this week’s Americana Music Association airplay chart, is a one-shot deal or a long-term project. But even if the band’s self-titled debut turns out to be a one-off, it seems like it was worth the effort.
Hard Working Americans is fronted by singer-songwriter Todd Snider, sounding grittier and more subdued than he used to. His colleagues include guitarist Neal Casal of the Chris Robinson Brotherhood and Ryan Adams’ Cardinals, bassist (and co-producer) Dave Schools from Widespread Panic, keyboardist Chad Staehly of Great American Taxi and drummer Duane Trucks from Col. Bruce Hampton’s School of Music.
All 11 songs on Hard Working Americans are covers, and these guys picked some good material. “Another Train,” a rowdy love song by former Snider guitarist Will Kimbrough, gets a riff-heavy rendition that recalls mid-’70s bands like Montrose. Casal’s guitar fuels the world-weary “Down to the Well,” by Kevin Gordon and Colin Linden, while Staehly’s piano, Trucks’ percussion and harmonica from guest John Popper give Hayes Carll’s “Stomp and Holler” a nice honky-tonk vibe.
Snider’s take on Kevn Kinney’s “Straight to Hell” is more understated than Kinney’s all-out redneck rock approach, but the trailer-park drama still comes through, punctuated by a nice Casal solo. Other highlights include an uptempo rendition of the Bottle Rockets’ “Welfare Music” and a suitably folky take on Randy Newman’s “Mr. President, Have Pity on the Working Man.” The album closes with a quiet version of David Rawlings and Gillian Welch’s hard-living tale “Wrecking Ball.”
It’s nice to hear what these talented musicians bring to other writers’ songs, but it should also be interesting to hear what they do with their own material, if they decide to go that route.
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