Hailing from Atlanta, GA, Willie Heath Neal and Kira Annalise are The Waymores. Greener Pastures is their latest album, out on vinyl August 25 through Chicken Ranch Records. A bold but unstrained excursion into old-school county with plenty of honky-tonk flavor, the lean 10-song effort was produced by Shel Talmy. It’s an unlikely but fruitful matchup, as The Waymores’ grip on classic country song form is as firm as ever.
In my review of The Waymores’ The Stone Sessions, their second album released in April 2022, I likened the duo to the Ramones, and now here they come with a follow-up produced by the guy who helmed “Stretcher Case Baby” b/w “Sick of Being Sick” by The Damned. Of course, Shel Talmy is more famous for his work with The Kinks and The Who (though he also produced “Dandy” b/w “I Don’t Need Your Kind” by The Rockin’ Vickers), but he’d never lent his expertise to a country record, at least until Greener Pastures.
To be clear, The Waymores don’t sound like punk rock. That Ramones comparison has to do with a lack of frills and nonsense, or to put it another way, The Waymores’ country and the Ramones’ punk are comparable in spirit. As Neal and Annalise both sing (he also plays guitar), the more obvious similarities are to George Jones and Tammy Wynette and Johnny and June Carter Cash, though it’s a likeness that’s not overemphasized in the overall scheme of things.
Instead, they pepper Greener Pastures with a few choice covers, and straightaway with “Under Your Spell Again” a song Buck Owens co-wrote with pedal steel player Dusty Rhodes. As it unwinds, the superb vocal interplay is matched by the playing, which brandishes just a bit more kick than the music that influenced it.
The instrumentalists assembled for the album are steel guitarist Dave Pearlman, bass guitarists Terry Wilson and James “Hutch” Hutchinson, lead guitarist Johnny Lee Schell, drummer Tony Braunagel, and keyboardist Phil Parlapiano, with Maxayn Lewis contributing backing vocals. They manage to bring an air of the authentic to a record that’s not burdened with sounding like it was cut 45 years ago.
Instead, “Flashbacks of a Fool” features an a cappella opening by Annalise that’s atmosphere is closer to the contemporary. Likewise, the distorted guitar licks would’ve been unheard of on country radio once upon a time. Not that Greener Pastures stands much of a chance on the commercial country airwaves of the current moment, though it’s clear from the organ-rich version of John Prine’s “You Got Gold” that The Waymores’ priorities are elsewhere.
Originals like “Time to Ramble” and closer “Tavern Time” reinforce the duo’s comfort with bedrock country themes, while the title track, co-written with Austin’s Johnny McGowan, and “But I Don’t” find them comfortably building on the mixed-gender duet foundation. The remaining tracks are amongst the record’s best. There’s “Don’t Worry,” a Marty Robbins number that’s thick with steel guitar, while “Hill Country Waltz” is an Annalise spotlight radiating Loretta Lynn vibes.
That leaves “She’s Gone,” a high gear hard hitting two-minute country boogie original that underscores how The Waymores’ decision to record Greener Pastures with Talmy was far from a misstep.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
