Willie Heath Neal
Out of Highway
Chicken Ranch Records

It’s hard to believe that this is Georgia native Willie Heath Neal’s sixth album and I’ve never heard of him. A country-born man with roots in both punk rock and Nashville, Willie dishes out twelve songs here that mix Steve Earle with Johnny Cash and a bit of the Sex Pistols for good measure.

From the first ruckus country beat of “Crying All the Time” to the foot thumping “Alabama Highway,” Neal sings of hard loves, broken-down cars and rebel sorrows with a perfection few can copy.

The punk roots are also clearly present in tracks like “Attitude,” which is about…well, having a bad attitude, and just what exactly you can do with it. It would be easy to call Willie’s sound alt/country, but frankly, that label is just too weak for how damn good this stuff is. Just call it damn good.

It doesn’t hurt that Willie’s band — Clay Broome: guitar, Porter McLister: guitar, Mark Robertson: electric guitar, baritone guitar, organ, electric bass, background vocals, Porter McClister: electric guitar, banjo, Amanda Shires: fiddle, J.D. Wilkes: harmonica, piano, electric piano, Chad Valencourt: bass instrument, upright bass,  T-Bone, Brian Giblet, Thomas Blalock: drums, and Steve Latanation: percussion, background vocals — are as fine a crew as you can get.

You can down load most of this album, but even better…you can buy it from the man himself when he plays at Davey’s Uptown June 24. (Call them for the start time, then ignore it and show up early)

This may damn well be one of the best bands to come through KC this summer: get on the highway and check the man out. —Brandon Whitehead

Brandon Whitehead can be contacted at brandonw@kcactive.com