CD Review: Jake Penrod – Million Dollar Cowboy
By Ritchie Ritchison for Country Music News International Magazine
- If You’ll Be Mine
- Have You Ever Been a Fool
- Little Mama
- Blues for Company
- Better Than Being Alone
- Till I Get the Hang of Leaving You
- So Goodbye
- I Bet She Hasn’t Cried at All Today
- Erasing You
- In the Corner by the Jukebox
- He Stopped Loving Her Today
Every once in a while an album comes across my desk that makes me believe country music will survive. Jake Penrod’s album Million Dollar Cowboy is just such an album.
I have known and listened to Jake for a long time now and his shows have always been pedal to the metal, 4 chords and a cloud of dust Texas Honky Tonk as it should be.
But on this album Jake really stretches and really expands his horizons musically.
Covering a lot of ground he shows you through the choice of material and his ability to deliver on that material just who his influences are. Being from Texas naturally you’ll hear Ernest Tubb and Waylon Jennings but you’ll also hear Jerry Lee Lewis, James Hand, George Jones, a hint of Johnny Paycheck and so much more.
I have always featured James Hand’s great version of In the Corner by the Jukebox on my radio show The Rollin’ Rhythm Roundup because I never had a version to play by Jake but I think people may get tired of hearing me spin this one. I don’t usually like covers unless the person doing the covering adds their own touch and Jake Penrod has put his stamp on this one for sure!
If you know anything at all about me you know I have never liked He Stopped Loving Her Today… even when George Jones sang it. When other people cover it I really can’t stand it. That being said I absolutely LOVE Jake’s version. His drummer channeled Waylon’s drummer and bandleader Richie Albright and laid down a perfect Waylors beat while Jake and the band play a blistering version of this song in the Waylon style making it close to if not my favorite track on the disc.
The problem is I really can’t tell you what my favorite song is because all of them are excellent. I predict Jake Penrod will be getting a lot of airplay from this album! I know he will on The Rollin’ Rhythm Roundup. I will be playing every cut!
It took the Million Dollar Cowboy a long time to make it to the shelves and digital platforms but if you love traditional Honky Tonk music it will have been well worth the wait.
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
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