SHOOTER JENNINGS
''THE OTHER LIFE''
MARCH 12 2013
47:38
1/Flying Saucer Song
Harry Nilsson/3:37
2/A Hard Lesson to Learn
Jon Graboff / Shooter Jennings/3:34
3/The White Trash Song
Steve Young/5:08
4/Wild & Lonesome
Shooter Jennings/4:07
5/Outlaw You
Shooter Jennings/4:19
6/The Other Life
Shooter Jennings/3:42
7/The Low Road
Shooter Jennings/3:04
8/Mama, It’s Just My Medicine
Shooter Jennings/5:07
9/The Outsider
Shooter Jennings/3:10
10/15 Million Light Years Away
Jim "Dandy" Mangrum / Ricky Lee Reynolds / Charles "Buddy" Smith/5:20
11/The Gunslinger
Shooter Jennings/6:30
Scott H. Biram
Stephanie Coleman/Fiddle
Bailey Cook/Banjo
Jim Dandy
Erik Deutsch/Organ, Piano, Synthesizer, Vocals, Wurlitzer
Steve Elliott/Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm)
Jon Graboff/Guitar (Rhythm), Pedal Steel, Vocals
Patty Griffin
Jeff Hill/Bass (Acoustic), Bass (Electric), Vocals
Shooter Jennings/Guitar (Rhythm), Percussion, Programming, Synthesizer, Vocals, Wurlitzer
Kenny Kosek/Fiddle
Tony Leone/Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Chris Masterson/Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm), Vocals
Boo Rainer/Banjo
Mickey Raphael/Harmonica
Jonathan Stewart/Saxophone
Eleanor Whitmore/Fiddle, Vocals
REVIEW
by Thom Jurek
Shooter Jennings has always demanded to be taken on his own terms. If 2012's Family Man was his most "country" album, The Other Life is its companion and mirror, not its follow-up. Six of these tracks were cut at the earlier album's sessions, including the firebrand "Outlaw You," the tune for the music video that was a musical middle finger to Eric Church and Jason Aldean (which has curiously gone unanswered). The Other Life is wilder, darker, rowdier, and more diverse than its predecessor. The brooding opener "Flying Saucer Song," a piano- and effects-driven number, is eventually transformed into a spaced-out, gospel-tinged song about space (outer and inner). It throws the listener for a loop, but resolutely belongs -- but only as the first cut. The set contains gorgeous country ballads such as "Wild and Lonesome" (with Patty Griffin on backing vocals) and the title track. There are fine, midtempo honky tonkers including "The Outsider" and the pedal steel- and banjo-saturated "The Low Road." There are steamy, electric, country-kissed, blues-rock numbers such as "A Hard Lesson to Learn," and the rock & roll boogie of "Mama It's Just My Medicine." There's a shuffling, snarling, futuristic, midtempo Americana tune in "15 Million Light Years Away," with reverb-drenched production that features a weathered (not weary) Jim Dandy -- from Black Oak Arkansas -- as a duet partner. The first single is a wooly, rowdy reading of Steve Young's "White Trash Song," with Scott H. Biram guesting. Young, an underground legend, authored the outlaw anthem "Lonesome Orn'ry & Mean," a signature tune for Jennings' dad. This reading of the 1971 tune contains skittering rockabilly drums, pumping upright bass, wailing pedal steel, hyper-acoustic guitars, piercing fiddles, and an additional verse. (Neither Jennings nor Biram took a co-write for it; something unheard of in Music City.) It underscores the iconoclastic legacy bequeathed to Jennings by his free-spirited parents. But more than that, the song is a celebration of all that doesn't fit -- anywhere. It's an apt self-referential metaphor. Album-closer "The Gunslinger" is Jennings' own anthem, drenched in country, rock, R&B, and even jazz, courtesy of the improvisational interplay between Jonathan Stewart's tenor saxophone, guitars, keyboards, and the rhythm section. Its lyric is a militant gauntlet directed at those who would disrespect him, yet displays a camaraderie with outsider musicians of all stripes. Jennings truly came into his own on Family Man, but on The Other Life, he pushes the boundaries further, offering some of the finest songs he's written to date. He fully realizes here what he's been attempting all along. Box these sounds whichever way you want to, but they are all Shooter Jennings, and as music, The Other Life is all killer, no filler.
BIOGRAPHY
by Steve Leggett
The only son of country legends Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, Shooter Jennings literally spent his childhood on a tour bus. Born Waylon Albright Jennings, Shooter was playing drums by the time he was five years old and had already begun taking piano lessons, only to break them off and follow his own path to an understanding of the instrument. He discovered guitar at 14 and rock & roll (particularly Southern rock and the loose-limbed hard rock of Guns N' Roses) at 16. Soon he moved from Nashville to L.A., where he assembled a rock band called Stargunn. Stargunn earned a strong local reputation for its live shows, and enjoyed a six- or seven-year run on the L.A. circuit before Jennings rediscovered his outlaw country roots and dissolved the band.
After a short stay in New York, where Jennings assembled material for a country project, he returned to L.A. and put together a second band -- this time with solid country roots -- which he named the .357s. Jennings and the band holed up in the studio, eventually emerging with a rambunctious country album called Put the O Back in Country, which was released in 2005 on Universal South Records. Following in his father's footsteps, but with his own feisty, scrappy sense of country, Jennings placed himself in a fine position to both explore that legacy and carve out his own. A second album, Electric Rodeo (which was actually recorded before Put the O Back in Country), appeared in 2006, followed by a live set, Live at Irving Plaza, later in the year. Jennings' third solo effort, The Wolf, was released in October 2007, featuring a cover of Dire Straits' "Walk of Life" (whose composer, Mark Knopfler, had been a longtime family friend). A month later, Jennings became a father. His girlfriend, actress Drea De Matteo, gave birth to Alabama Gypsy Rose in November. He proposed to De Matteo in 2009 on-stage in Utica, New York. He renamed his backing band Hierophant for his fourth studio album, Black Ribbons, a concept record produced by Dave Cobb. It appeared early in 2010. Later in the year, the album was re-released in a special edition entitled Black Ribbons: The Living Album. The second version was sold on a USB flash drive in the shape of a tarot card. It featured the studio record and live performances by Hierophant. In early 2011, Jennings and blogger Adam Sheets came up with the idea of creating XXX, a new radio format that would focus on insurgent country, rock, and hybrids of both, from new and established artists, that fell far outside the narrow conceits of mainstream radio and were thus ignored. It gained traction and a channel on Sirius/XM where both men served as program hosts. Jennings also moved to New York City with De Matteo. He and pianist Erik Deutsch formed a new band, called the Triple Crown, and he became a father for the second time to Waylon Albert "Blackjack" Jennings, in April. In urgent fashion, Jennings and the Triple Crown began recording; they released the video/download-only single "Outlaw You," his screed against the country music establishment. It reached the top spot on CMT's daily audience request competition and stayed there until a dispute with his former label dictated it be removed. The first official single from the forthcoming album, "The Deed and the Dollar," again reached the top spot in the daily CMT request competition. Jennings' fifth album, Family Man, followed soon after in March of 2012 -- minus "Outlaw You." His next album, The Other Life, was released a year later on his own Black Country Rock label; it featured a guest appearances from Patty Griffin, Scott H. Biram, and Jim Dandy of Black Oak Arkansas.
''THE OTHER LIFE''
MARCH 12 2013
47:38
1/Flying Saucer Song
Harry Nilsson/3:37
2/A Hard Lesson to Learn
Jon Graboff / Shooter Jennings/3:34
3/The White Trash Song
Steve Young/5:08
4/Wild & Lonesome
Shooter Jennings/4:07
5/Outlaw You
Shooter Jennings/4:19
6/The Other Life
Shooter Jennings/3:42
7/The Low Road
Shooter Jennings/3:04
8/Mama, It’s Just My Medicine
Shooter Jennings/5:07
9/The Outsider
Shooter Jennings/3:10
10/15 Million Light Years Away
Jim "Dandy" Mangrum / Ricky Lee Reynolds / Charles "Buddy" Smith/5:20
11/The Gunslinger
Shooter Jennings/6:30
Scott H. Biram
Stephanie Coleman/Fiddle
Bailey Cook/Banjo
Jim Dandy
Erik Deutsch/Organ, Piano, Synthesizer, Vocals, Wurlitzer
Steve Elliott/Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm)
Jon Graboff/Guitar (Rhythm), Pedal Steel, Vocals
Patty Griffin
Jeff Hill/Bass (Acoustic), Bass (Electric), Vocals
Shooter Jennings/Guitar (Rhythm), Percussion, Programming, Synthesizer, Vocals, Wurlitzer
Kenny Kosek/Fiddle
Tony Leone/Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Chris Masterson/Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm), Vocals
Boo Rainer/Banjo
Mickey Raphael/Harmonica
Jonathan Stewart/Saxophone
Eleanor Whitmore/Fiddle, Vocals
REVIEW
by Thom Jurek
Shooter Jennings has always demanded to be taken on his own terms. If 2012's Family Man was his most "country" album, The Other Life is its companion and mirror, not its follow-up. Six of these tracks were cut at the earlier album's sessions, including the firebrand "Outlaw You," the tune for the music video that was a musical middle finger to Eric Church and Jason Aldean (which has curiously gone unanswered). The Other Life is wilder, darker, rowdier, and more diverse than its predecessor. The brooding opener "Flying Saucer Song," a piano- and effects-driven number, is eventually transformed into a spaced-out, gospel-tinged song about space (outer and inner). It throws the listener for a loop, but resolutely belongs -- but only as the first cut. The set contains gorgeous country ballads such as "Wild and Lonesome" (with Patty Griffin on backing vocals) and the title track. There are fine, midtempo honky tonkers including "The Outsider" and the pedal steel- and banjo-saturated "The Low Road." There are steamy, electric, country-kissed, blues-rock numbers such as "A Hard Lesson to Learn," and the rock & roll boogie of "Mama It's Just My Medicine." There's a shuffling, snarling, futuristic, midtempo Americana tune in "15 Million Light Years Away," with reverb-drenched production that features a weathered (not weary) Jim Dandy -- from Black Oak Arkansas -- as a duet partner. The first single is a wooly, rowdy reading of Steve Young's "White Trash Song," with Scott H. Biram guesting. Young, an underground legend, authored the outlaw anthem "Lonesome Orn'ry & Mean," a signature tune for Jennings' dad. This reading of the 1971 tune contains skittering rockabilly drums, pumping upright bass, wailing pedal steel, hyper-acoustic guitars, piercing fiddles, and an additional verse. (Neither Jennings nor Biram took a co-write for it; something unheard of in Music City.) It underscores the iconoclastic legacy bequeathed to Jennings by his free-spirited parents. But more than that, the song is a celebration of all that doesn't fit -- anywhere. It's an apt self-referential metaphor. Album-closer "The Gunslinger" is Jennings' own anthem, drenched in country, rock, R&B, and even jazz, courtesy of the improvisational interplay between Jonathan Stewart's tenor saxophone, guitars, keyboards, and the rhythm section. Its lyric is a militant gauntlet directed at those who would disrespect him, yet displays a camaraderie with outsider musicians of all stripes. Jennings truly came into his own on Family Man, but on The Other Life, he pushes the boundaries further, offering some of the finest songs he's written to date. He fully realizes here what he's been attempting all along. Box these sounds whichever way you want to, but they are all Shooter Jennings, and as music, The Other Life is all killer, no filler.
BIOGRAPHY
by Steve Leggett
The only son of country legends Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, Shooter Jennings literally spent his childhood on a tour bus. Born Waylon Albright Jennings, Shooter was playing drums by the time he was five years old and had already begun taking piano lessons, only to break them off and follow his own path to an understanding of the instrument. He discovered guitar at 14 and rock & roll (particularly Southern rock and the loose-limbed hard rock of Guns N' Roses) at 16. Soon he moved from Nashville to L.A., where he assembled a rock band called Stargunn. Stargunn earned a strong local reputation for its live shows, and enjoyed a six- or seven-year run on the L.A. circuit before Jennings rediscovered his outlaw country roots and dissolved the band.
After a short stay in New York, where Jennings assembled material for a country project, he returned to L.A. and put together a second band -- this time with solid country roots -- which he named the .357s. Jennings and the band holed up in the studio, eventually emerging with a rambunctious country album called Put the O Back in Country, which was released in 2005 on Universal South Records. Following in his father's footsteps, but with his own feisty, scrappy sense of country, Jennings placed himself in a fine position to both explore that legacy and carve out his own. A second album, Electric Rodeo (which was actually recorded before Put the O Back in Country), appeared in 2006, followed by a live set, Live at Irving Plaza, later in the year. Jennings' third solo effort, The Wolf, was released in October 2007, featuring a cover of Dire Straits' "Walk of Life" (whose composer, Mark Knopfler, had been a longtime family friend). A month later, Jennings became a father. His girlfriend, actress Drea De Matteo, gave birth to Alabama Gypsy Rose in November. He proposed to De Matteo in 2009 on-stage in Utica, New York. He renamed his backing band Hierophant for his fourth studio album, Black Ribbons, a concept record produced by Dave Cobb. It appeared early in 2010. Later in the year, the album was re-released in a special edition entitled Black Ribbons: The Living Album. The second version was sold on a USB flash drive in the shape of a tarot card. It featured the studio record and live performances by Hierophant. In early 2011, Jennings and blogger Adam Sheets came up with the idea of creating XXX, a new radio format that would focus on insurgent country, rock, and hybrids of both, from new and established artists, that fell far outside the narrow conceits of mainstream radio and were thus ignored. It gained traction and a channel on Sirius/XM where both men served as program hosts. Jennings also moved to New York City with De Matteo. He and pianist Erik Deutsch formed a new band, called the Triple Crown, and he became a father for the second time to Waylon Albert "Blackjack" Jennings, in April. In urgent fashion, Jennings and the Triple Crown began recording; they released the video/download-only single "Outlaw You," his screed against the country music establishment. It reached the top spot on CMT's daily audience request competition and stayed there until a dispute with his former label dictated it be removed. The first official single from the forthcoming album, "The Deed and the Dollar," again reached the top spot in the daily CMT request competition. Jennings' fifth album, Family Man, followed soon after in March of 2012 -- minus "Outlaw You." His next album, The Other Life, was released a year later on his own Black Country Rock label; it featured a guest appearances from Patty Griffin, Scott H. Biram, and Jim Dandy of Black Oak Arkansas.
Track 10