The first time I listened to the new album from Jake Hunsinger & the Rock Bottom, Wrapped Around the Axle, I was driving, so couldn’t read or search anything. I kept thinking, “do I know this song, is it a cover?” Turns out Hunsinger is a student of country music song writing, and that explained a lot. Although all the songs on the record are originals, they have familiarity of a long lost friend.
The Day My Life Began is a countrypolitan classic, you can just hear Billy Sherrill in the booth and Charley Pride at the microphone. Wild Horses Of Wyoming is a metaphor for riding off into the mortal sunset. And in a nod to maybe what we’re all hoping for, Hunsinger describes heaven as place for “telling dirty jokes to Jesus with John Prine”. Lorelai lopes along and features the album’s title as a reference to who has the power in a relationship.
Hunsinger and the band push that classic Nashville envelope a little in Black Eyeshadow Stomp. It’s a honky-tonk, rough-around-the-edges look at a weakness for a particular style. “Step on my neck with your high-heeled shoes, and I’ll write a blank check.” Alrighty. The Mess Around is a mashup of a rock anthem and a murder ballad and it’s followed up with Keep Me In Mind that draws you back to the dance floor.
Jake Hunsinger & the Rock Bottom are based in Rhode Island; not exactly thought of as a hotbed of country music. But the boys in the band have shown they’re erstwhile students of the genre, who then further learned by doing. As a result Wrapped Around the Axle is just what the doctor ordered for a dose of old-school country music.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.