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Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2008 > September > 28 > Entry
ACL review: Shooter Jennings
Shooter Jennings was 10 minutes late for his show in the WaMu tent Sunday evening. And when he finally did show up, the shaggy-haired, free-spirited son of Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter took the stage as loudspeakers played the Darth Vadar march music from “Star Wars.”
I had the feeling, right then, that something strange was bound to happen.
But no: Jennings and his band went straight to work, churning out a string of hard-driving, high-testosterone, country-ROCK songs — “Steady at the Wheel,” “Slow Train,” “This Ol’ Wheel” — that touched on themes of alienation and a quest for freedom and the dream of going home. Newbies like me were reminded, very quickly, that the 29-year-old Jennings and his guitar-driven band share more of a musical kinship with Lynyrd Skynyrd (or the old Black Sabbath) than his father Waylon. And that’s quite all right. “The Wolf,” his third CD, reflects the spirit of a man whose committed to making music his own way.
Halfway through the show, Jennings sought to soften the mood a bit as the stage hands brought out an electronic keyboard — an instrument that didn’t seem to be working very well, it turns out. Jennings gave it a try for a couple of tunes. Then, following “Higher,” the stage hands returned to fix it. Shooter shooed them away. “I’m trying to get through one more song with this son of a … ,” he said, clearly frustrated.
Launching into a new song, Jennings played only a few notes before exclaiming, “What the hell is wrong with this thing?” Then he stood up at center stage, lifted the keyboard from its stand and threw it down to the floor. “Change of plan,” he said dryly.
Let the record show that Jennings promptly strapped on his Gibson guitar and ripped off an inspired rendition of “Daddy’s Farm” and eventually closed the show with a high-energy cover of the Arc Angels’ “Living in a Dream.”
Photo: Jack Plunkett ASSOCIATED PRESS
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