Hayes Carll and The Band of Heathens

Hayes and the Heathens

BOH Records / Gold Mountain Entertainment

 Someday these Texans may be hailed as a supergroup by some definition of such. Because in listening to Hayes and the Heathens, they clearly are, right now, one hell of a super group of players and singers who click together like the well-oiled padlocks on a barn full of surprises. Very colorful surprises.

Hayes Carll made an instant and lasting impact when he debuted in 2002 with the straight as ‘shine country album, Flowers & Liquor. They compared him to Townes Van Zandt and Billy Joe Shaver at the time for his writing and delivery. Carll’s superb 2019 album, What It Is, was produced by his then-new wife, the singer Allison Moorer, ex-wife of Steve Earle. Carll shares not only a marriage with one of them, but certainly musical ideals with both.

Who knows whether The Band of Heathens are what are they call themselves? But in 2004, they hooked Americana music circles right where it counts with their ways of worshiping country-rock with their own substantial Lone Star bent.

To begin their collaborative debut, Carll leads the Heathens through “Nobody Dies from Weed,” triumphantly mocking the system and making a shared case both cleverly, and as comically as a head swimming in fresh haze. The hayseed melody of the song, offset by truly heavenly vocal harmonies, sets an impressive pace that varies continually throughout the album’s eight songs. Next, a jazzy, honky-tonk piano figure ignites “Any Other Way,” the music and vocals as Shaver-esque as can be, but separate from that just as much by virtue of the explosive harmony singing.

While inspirations peek through in abundance on this album, each of its songs leans towards Carll’s or the Heathen’s distinctiveness, or projects a perfect combination of both. The loping “See How They Run,” and the bubbling, quickly roiling “Water from the Holy Grail,” display prime Band of Heathens, the latter pierced by a meteoric guitar solo at its apex. The stately country of “Adeline” finds Carll standing squarely in his most brilliant light, while the kinetic blues of “Nothin’ to Do with Your Love” merges their identities ideally, but also manages to stomp around in Ray Wylie Hubbard’s corral just the same.

Every song here is light on its feet with appeal, but heavily laden with extraordinary songwriting and performance talent.

The creative success of Hayes and the Heathens points at a—hopefully—continuous liaison, even to the point of acclaim that will earn Hayes Carll and The Band of Heathens that supergroup status. And, who could forget such sage advice as, “Ways abound to get under the ground, but nobody dies from weed?”

Tom Clarke for MAS

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