WAYNE HANCOCK
Wild, Free & Reckless (Ark 21)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

---

Wayne "The Train" Hancock" drives the tour bus, and that should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever heard the man play his brand of honest roots country music. After all, no one else seems to know how to get to where he's going. The Train handles his own business affairs, looks after everyone on the road, and writes incredible music that is brand new yet sounds like it belongs to the good old days. Wild, Free & Reckless, Hancock's third album, is loaded with music that also drives, and it's also loaded with the intimacy, excitement and fun of a live show. Hancock's cohorts are called upon by name frequently. A shout of "T-Man!" ushers in a piano solo by T. Jarrod Bonta, who Hancock announces is the 8th wonder of the world. "Heeeey Dave Biller! How the hell ya doin', Dave?" By the mid-way point you'll not only appreciate the skills of these players, you just may find yourself talking to them. "Heeeeeeey SEAN! Play it pretty for me!" It's that kind of album. Though it'll never be a radio track, a good bet for fan-favorite status is "Smell That Bread," named after the band's code phrase for "sexy women approaching." The sad fact is that none of this wonderful music is destined to get a lot of radio play in major markets because real country just doesn't exist to those programmers. Hancock doesn't much care. He knows who the real country fans are and he knows he will reach them on the road, and that's why the man rarely comes OFF the road. Take my advice and follow that bus.

(C) 1999 - DJ Johnson