It's difficult to believe that
Travis Tritt has been kicking it from Nash Vegas for nearly 15 years. For most of that time,
Tritt has been remarkably consistent. He has espoused his own vision of
outlaw country since the beginning. While marketed as one of the first "new traditionalists" and then refashioned as a progenitor of "young
country,"
Tritt has followed his own redneck way throughout and for the most part made the records he wanted to make. My Honky Tonk History, is another chapter, though this one rocks pretty hard. Co-produced with
Billy Joe Walker,
Tritt assembled a stellar cast of pickers -- including
Reggie Young,
Pat Buchanan,
Brent Mason,
Pig Robbins, and
Eric Darken in a very large cast for this date -- as well as some special guests. The title track opens the set with a rollicking firebrand and burning electric guitars all but covering a lone banjo that stands in for tradition. It's a juxtaposition that works, since
Tritt's celebration of a hungry life of hustling is timeless. "Too Far to Turn Around," is a bluesy dobro-fueled ballad that is lean and mean, with
Gretchen Wilson (one of the song's three writers) guesting on backing vocals. The intro to "What Say You," feels like a track off
John Mellencamp's Lonesome Jubilee, but perhaps that's because
Mellencamp duets with
Tritt here on this working-class anthem. It's easily the best cut on the set, and the two singers are particularly suited to one another as electric guitars, mandolins, fiddles, a B-3, and
Béla Fleck's banjo crisscross in a swirl of rocking country-soul.
honky tonk music proper enters the fray in
Philip Claypool's "Circus Leaving Town," a modern take on the music that made the careers of
George Jones and
Ray Price. Texas
r&b meets the country bar's sawdust floor in "Monkey Around," written by
Delbert McClinton,
Benmont Tench, and
Gary Nicholson. It's greasy, raucous, and freewheeling with killer piano lines by
Robbins. Of the ballads, slick as it is,
Tritt and
Marty Stuart's "We've Had It All," works well.
Tritt brings the emotion in the tune right upfront and sings with conviction and grace, but the whining pedal steel in "Small Doses" makes the slow step of this low-down
country tearjerker really stand out.
Tritt's protagonist is a man on a barstool talking to himself, trying to buoy his courage to face the empty space left by a long-gone lover. In all, My Honky Tonk History is a solid, sure-voiced outing from an enduring and committed artist. Bravo. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
