Hard to believe that about five years ago Gretchen Wilson was singing the praises of being a redneck woman and was the toast of country radio as a unemployed single mother being from Pocahontas Illinois and basically one of the gang. Country radio still plays that and Here For The Party but her record label treated her like yesterday's news and finally Wilson threw in the towel and bought out Sony Music to release I've Got Your Country Here on her very own Redneck label. Sony opting to issue Gretchen Wilson's Greatest Hits instead and you get most if not all her radio hits. I've always liked some of her stuff but most her albums seemed to border on country cliche more than country attitude although my favorite Wilson number is actually her version of a Billie Holiday number that was a bonus track on All Jacked Up.
It seems like Wilson butted heads with Sony Nashville since Redneck Woman and why they found fault in I Got Your Country Here I have no idea except the fact that maybe they wanted more fiddles and steel guitar but it actually sounds more like southern rock then pop country. In fact Wilson never rocked her assed off any more harder than she does on Got Your Country Here. Though Wilson does rock hard in the country way she still relies too much on the Nashville writer's row of Rivers Rutherford, Jeff Steele & Bob Dipario whereas she only gets two from Vicky McGehee and John Rich who produced only one song, Work Hard, Play Harder (To which they give songwriter's credit to The Robinsons of The Black Crowes since it apes part of Jealous Again). Wilson only writes on Blue Collar Turned Red, your right wing God and guns song, which isn't bad. In fact, the music drives the lyrics throughout the album. On the title track you pretty get Gretchen's song list of her favorites (which are 'repeat with me' Charlie Daniels, ZZ Top, Hank Jr, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash-but written from the mind of Jeffery Steele which I'm sure wrote the same lyrics but did a different title for Eli Young Band). Gretchen sings the praises of the American Trucker, and ready to kick the other woman ass by taking off her earrings on The Earrings Song. And bitches about the cheapening of radio on Terry McBride's Outlaws & Renegades and the Kewpie dolls that replaced her on the radio. I'm sure she can probably kick most of their asses although Miranda Lambert might win on decision and Lambert writing more original material. But Wilson isn't the country girl you would like her to think she is, but the fact that she's more of a southern rock girl with a passion for some fiddle to make it country. Now without Sony Music getting in the way, we hoping that Gretchen Wilson can continue to make music toward southern rock and roll with the country edge that she so much admires Charlie and Hank Jr for. This might be her best album to date and here's hoping that it will get the Wally World folk to go buy it for 9 bucks there. But Wally World also has Gretchen Wilson's Greatest Hits to let you know how far she came since proclaiming herself Redneck Woman number uno. I Got Your Country Here and it's southern rock y'all.
UPDATE (if this computer lets me) Gretchen's albums are now on her own Redneck label and although they can be found at the local Wally World tho they haven't sold a fraction of her Sony Music stuff. In 2013 she put out three albums, one a cover of rock songs (Under The Covers) which are hit and miss, one a return to Southern Rock Country (Right On Time) and an Christmas album to boot. In 2014 she recorded a live album of all the songs from her first album Here For The Party, which is a good time to hear although the DVD tends to go off subject with an interview and live concert footage. The Snapshot best of are from I Got Your Country Here onward and is a nice companion to the Playlist Best of, which has more songs than the brief Greatest Hits. The Sony Budget line Country is a so so mixtape CD of her Epic years. Country radio has basically forgotten her outside of Redneck Woman but before Miranda Lambert came into play, it was Gretchen Wilson doing her best for the girls of country music and she managed to last a lot longer than those on the charts (Elizabeth Cook, Jennifer Hanson, Sunny Sweeney come to mind) at that time. But since she was older (she was 31 when Redneck Woman became that left field hit) the Sony Nashville bigwigs thought her expiration date would happen sooner than later due to being over 30. Still, Wilson's no bullshit and tough as nails persona and good singing voice (I always liked her version of Barracuda) remains in demand, particularly from the FOX news and conservative crowds. But since going independent, she really doesn't get much press and hardly anybody buys her albums anymore. And folks have moved on, judging by her Epic albums in the dollar bins as well. Even at 42 years old, Gretchen still looks like a sex symbol and still can kick Carrie Underwood's butt in jello wrestling, although Carrie is more appealing to the Nashville mainstream. In 2017, she made a rock move with Ready To Get Rowdy, which got rave reviews and zero country airplay.
