This one was fun to write about. Sometimes I like to post the offbeat kind of artists, and the Reverend fits that description. This is what happens when you turn frantic Rockabilly up a notch or three. Let’s just rip the band-aid off. This thing doesn’t walk into the room, it tears the hinges off the door, screams in your face, steals your beer, and does donuts in the church parking lot. It is high-octane and has some great guitar.
He does some Brian Setzer and Duane Eddy style guitar playing at 11. It’s NOT a storytelling song. It’s a vibe, a warning, and a shot of tequila thrown down your throat. I love Dylan, Prine, and the other great songwriters, but this isn’t it, and it’s not meant to be. Some songs make you want to sing. Some make you want to cry. This one makes you want to smash furniture and swing from the rafters.
He was on the record label Sub Pop, which also had Nirvana, but he sounds nothing like them. His real name is James C. Heath, and he grew up in Dallas, Texas. His influences were Junior Brown, Willie Nelson, and Merle Travis. He and his band have made 13 studio albums, and many of them charted. In the early 2000s, a friend at work named Lee played this one and a song called Wiggle Stick (live version), which, to be truthful, is more accessible than this one. I loved the sense of humor and sound right away.
This song came off the album Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em released in 1990. Reverend Horton Heat’s songs have been in movies, and he has a huge following.
Wiggle Stick
Psychobilly Freakout
It’s a psychobilly freakout!
Well, we’re off, we’re off, we’re off!
It’s, it’s, it’s a psychobilly freakout!
Well, we’re off, we’re off, we’re off!
I’ll tell you what it is! (what is it, God dang it?)
It’s some kinda Texas psychobilly freakout
That’s what it is
Well, we’re off, we’re off, we’re off!
It’s a psychobilly freakout!
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