I’ve never heard of an indie folk collective called The Wading Girl nor was I familiar with it’s frontman, Billy Wallace. I’m still not sure how that pertains to Wallace’s solo debut, The Road Spit Me Out, but it’s a cool little album full of what sounds like almost vintage sounding folksy old-timey country music that I might picture being played during the less-raucous operating hours of a dusty old saloon. It’s a bit twangy, a bit ragtime, and (overall) very traditional and authentic sounding (what I mean is that it sounds old without sounding artificially so) in a way that’s actually a little creepy. Wallace’s raspy vocals (sounding like a cross between Graham Lindsey and Jack White) are backed by the likes of guitars, pianos, harmonicas, banjos, brass, yearning fiddles, and more. The Road Spit Me Out is a rambling affair where no song really accelerates past a slow honky-tonk trot, and that’s fine with me. His original songs aren’t bad at all, but my favorite moment on the 9 song album was hearing Wallace’s cover of the Michael Nesmith penned song “Different Drum,” which is one of my all-time favorites. And just because, I’ve included a few different versions of the song but remember that “Billy Wallace High School Football Rules!”
MP3:
Billy Wallace - Wrecking Ball Blues
Billy Wallace - Different Drum
BONUS MP3:
Linda Ronstadt & The Stone Poneys - Different Drum
Mike Nesmith - Different Drum
Lemonheads - Different Drum
Me First & The Gimme Gimmes - Different Drum
