CJ Hooper. That just sounds like the name of a country musician. Or maybe a high school football star being recruited by every school in the SEC. I don’t know if Hooper played football in high school, but he was Texas-raised before moving to his now-home in Washington state. More to the point, he just released his sophomore album, an outlaw country sounding project called Over Yonder.
Stylistically, the standard-bearer for the record is Rain Song. It’s an old-school country number, driven by the ghost of Richie Albright on drums and a Bakersfield twang on rhythm guitar. Burn It Down has a touch of Rockpile in the guitars on a social commentary about society’s current obsession with wanton destruction of government institutions. Hard Times is a grungier observation that for the less fortunate the way to survive is to “learn how to bend” before you break. Decidedly more upbeat, and playing off the admonishment we all got as kids not to talk to strangers, is The Collector. Hooper notes that, despite the warning, the most interesting people (and their stories) come from those heretofore unknown sources. The title track actually comes in two flavors and was influenced by an Edgar Allan Poe poem, El Dorado. Lookie Over Yonder leans more on acoustic guitar for a country rock ballad. Yonderer is more electric and outlaw country.
CJ Hooper’s nod to a previous generation of music comes through across the entire album, even down to his leather saddle vocals sometimes getting buried in the mix. What comes out of it, though, is a distinctive “live” sound that I can’t imagine is much different in person. So if a little straightforward country honky-tonk is calling you, Over Yonder is just what you need.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.