Kentucky Headhunters: Big Boss Man

Ok, I asked for this one. I’m a fan of The Gourds and Dwight Yoakam, so I thought, why not Kentucky Headhunters? I’ll tell you why not: because this is like being stuck on a 12 hour road trip with only ZZ Top’s Recycler to keep you company. Except it’s not that much fun.

Big Boss Man is full of the tacky, canned production that blues giants always get stuck with late in their careers – the studio smothered, utterly lifeless stuff of later Santana or Etta James records. Couple that with a set list of country covers, none of which add anything to the originals, and many of which take something away, and you get this tepid effort.

The Headhunters have apparently been around for a while, so who knows, maybe they were interesting once. They’re competent, in a watered-down Allman Brothers style, but they’re soulless. I’m sure they rock the over-40 bar crowds, and I’m sure they’re having a good ol’ time doing it, but they’re just a tired covers band.

And the covers are criminal. I didn’t even make it through them all. I’m not about to taint my memory of “Walking After Midnight” with more than ten seconds of the Headhunters’ version. There’s nothing wrong with playing in a crappy bar band, in fact I personally think it would be terrific fun. Plenty of laughs for the band; far fewer for the poor fool who buys their CD.

- Thomas Vale
Kentucky Headhunters