Ramshackle rock from HeadHunters
By STEVEN WINE
The Kentucky HeadHunters, “Dixie Lullabies” (Red Dirt)
Influences are easy to identify on the latest album from the ZZ Rolling Stax Brothers. The band’s name is actually the Kentucky HeadHunters, and they borrow from the best on “Dixie Lullabies.” The title cut creates a Stones-ish twin-guitar squall, while “Sugar Daddy” boogies like ZZ Top. “Tumblin’ Roses” taps into Memphis soul, and “Little Miss Blues Breaker” recreates the rawest bits of the British Invasion.
All told, this is ramshackle rock for toe-tapping and keg-tapping. “Just Another Night” sounds like a street party, and elsewhere there are plenty of beery vocals and bourbon-soaked guitar riffs.
Twelve albums into their career, the HeadHunters clearly know what their audience wants. As one chugging chorus puts it: “She’s in love with the swagger of my low-hung Les Paul Standard.”
CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: The closing “Recollection Blues” is a departure from the rest of the set, and the smoky ballad peaks with Greg Martin’s delicate guitar solo.