Most cowpunk bands lean heavily on their country influences and sounds. This is not the case with Wilson Gil & The Willful Sinners. Their latest album, American Banned, slips effortlessly between country crooning and hard punk and rock riffs, often within the same song.
This is definitely a band that's not afraid to put the "punk" in "cowpunk".
Heavy Guitars and Honky Tonk Vocals
As the album kicks into its opening track, "My Town", you can immediately hear a blend of Ramones-styled guitars, blended with countrified vocals. The whole album continues to bounce you back and forth between these two sounds.
One song, "B****es and Stitches", is a straight-up honky tonk jam, followed up by the heavier rocking track "Bad Reputation", and the two are then followed by "Drink", which is a great tune that bounces between blues riffs and grinding thrash guitars, sounding like Danzig may have, had he been raised in Texas on his father's Merle Haggard albums.
Country Songs For the City Kids
The lyrics to the songs are similar to country lyrics but like the music, they often have a contemporary twist. In "Our Last Drinking Song", Gil sings:
Wasn’t that you, that I saw late last night
Stumbling home from the rave
With your hair all a fright, your eyes all a blur
Must have been too many smart drinks I’m sure.
And in "In Our Last Drinking Song", he asks a woman about an email he sent her about her drinking problem.
While many of the songs deal with drinking and drugs, the album is actually about finding redemption by escaping from them. While his sound and imagery are very dark, the album deals with climbing back up from rock bottom, and never glorifies the descent.
All in all, Wilson Gil is a walking contradiction; his album is a glorious mix of country and punk with a dark persona and a positive message. And it's a record that should be part of any cowpunk lover's collection, and a record to explore if you're just trying cowpunk out.
