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| Hard-edged, muscular country in the tradition of Tanya Tucker. Includes hits Redneck Woman and Here For The Party, plus Homewrecker, Holdin' You, more. |
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| 1 Here for the Party |
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| 2 Redneck Woman |
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| 3 When I Think About Cheatin' |
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| 4 Homewrecker |
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| 5 Holdin' You |
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| 6 Chariot |
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| 7 What Happened |
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| 8 When It Rains |
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| 9 The Bed |
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| 10 Pocahontas Proud |
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Album Review
The modern country music idiom is at a crossroads of identification. From pop on the interstate to the throwback sounds rolling down the gravel road, it's getting harder to separate artifice and marketing from the music's good old themes of salt o' the earth livin' and believing in what's right. It's an argument of semantics, but it figures into Gretchen Wilson's unprecedented debut success. Energized by the refreshingly self-explanatory single "Redneck Woman," Wilson's "Here for the Party" debuted at number two on Billboard's country charts. "I'm here for the beer and the ball-bustin' band," she sings over the opening title track's emphatic kick drum beat and dirty barroom twang. "I may not be a ten but the boys say I clean up good." Wilson's brassy delivery -- not to mention her brazen honesty -- is a far cry from the cleansed romance of country radio's songbirds; it's closer to the leather pants and poppy honky tonk of Tanya Tucker's 1978 effort "T.N.T.". Tucker's referenced in the absolutely unstoppable "Redneck Woman," as are Hank Jr., Kid Rock, and -- oh yeah -- Wal-Mart, which beats out the fancy-ass bare essentials over at Victoria's Secret. "Homewrecker" and the softer, but no less direct "Holdin' You" keep the "Party" going, playing twining pedal steel off of propulsive, near-rock drumming and prominent electric guitar. Sure, "When I Think About Cheatin'" is a nice, classic country ballad in both sound and storyline. But it's the crossbreeds that work best here, cuts like "Redneck Woman," "Chariot," and Wilson's tribute to her hard-bitten southern Illinois upbringing, "Pocahontas Proud." Wilson's music is identified as much with the wide-open sound of John Mellencamp and mentors Big & Rich as it is with the crafty, combinational qualities of the American Badass, even if country remains her primary musical and thematic source. Wake-up call? "Here for the Party" is a lawn chair through Nashville's plate glass window. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
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• Biography
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