Leroy Van Dyke - see artist discography

Ricky Van Shelton - see letter "S"

Van Zandt "Get Right With The Man" (Columbia/Sony-BMG, 2005)
(Produced by Mark Wright & Joe Scaife)
Well, with all the top-country hat-act dudes who've been tipping their hats towards that good ol' Southern rock sound these days, from Montgomery Gentry and Toby Keith on down, it sure makes sense for Johnny and Donnie Van Zandt (veterans of Lynyrd Skynyrd and .38 Special, respectively...) to drop their hat in the ring as well... And here's the thing: they're pretty damn damn good, better in many ways than the young'uns who have been copping their licks recently... That is, they're good on the bombastic, Southern-tinged country tunes; when they cut loose and really start rockin', though, the record gets too loose and wanky, with frazzled, endless guitar solos and a lot more noise than structure... It might be fun in concert after you've passed the Jack around, but even then you'd be better off going to see the Black Crowes. Still, I'm impressed by their country stuff, formulaic though it may be. There's plenty of posturing and talking about what tough, road-weary party dudes they are, but it rings a lot truer when these grizzled old rockers say it than when it's coming from pretty boys like, oh, say, Tim McGraw or Kenny Chesney. Don't tell anyone I said so, but I actually think this is a pretty good record, for the genre. Worth checking out, at least if you're not scared of actual, real-life longhaired rednecks.

Van Zandt "My Kind Of Country" (Columbia/Sony-BMG, 2007)
(Produced by Justin Niebank & Mark Wright)
Dumb, boring, lowest-common denominator Southern rock/top country crossover stuff, with simple riffs and simpler lyrics that pander to some imagined blue-collar audience with a chip on its shoulder and a burning need to assert itself through manly drinking and hardy, heterosexual back-slapping camaraderie. Although they include "These Colors Don't Run," mostly this is a resolutely un-political album, upbeat and good-timey, all about the stuff that regular, old guy-guys enjoy. It's okay, but kind of unoriginal and dull. The vocals are no great shakes and the guitars are kind of generic and risk-free. Whatever... This doesn't do much for me, but if you're a fan, go for it.

Phil Vassar "Phil Vassar" (Arista, 2000)
(Produced by Frank Rogers, Mark Brophy & Phil Vassar)

Phil Vassar "An American Child" (Arista, 2002)

Phil Vassar "Shaken, Not Stirred" (Arista, 2004)
(Produced by Frank Rogers, Mark Brophy & Phil Vassar)
More of Vassar's brand of hermetically constructed pop-country... This is the kind of formulaic, hook-strewn record that lulls you in, despite yourself, and then suddenly you're listening to some goddawful, super-dorky pop crossover tune with bad soul vocals and you wonder how the heck that happened... and if any of your neighbors might have caught you playing it! It's not all terrible (just mostly)... Vassar has a couple of winners on here -- "Here To Forget" and "What Happens In Vegas" are well-written and effective... If you pay attention to the lyrics, though, this is a pretty depressing record, with one song after another about stressed-out young professionals engaging in cheap, furtive affairs at singles bars and holiday getaways. I mean, I guess I should be glad that there's someone still singing cheating songs in today's squeaky-clean Nashville scene, but Vassar's smooth, antiseptic production makes it all sound so... matter of fact, and amoral, that it's really more of a bummer than some good old-fashioned honkytonk song where they make fun of their misery, rather than embrace it. (Dammit... See? That's what I'm talking about! I sat through the whole album, tinkly keyboards and all, and now I'm actually nodding my head along to a song like "I Miss The Innocence," thinking, hmmmm, maybe this guy has some depth after all... and then some crappy tune like "Amazing Grace" or "Dancin' With Dreams" comes along to snap me out of it... Whew! Dodged that bullet!)

Phil Vassar "Prayer Of A Common Man" (Universal South, 2008)
(Produced by Mark Wright & Phil Vassar)
This album opens on an uncharacteristically political note (at least for Vassar, who I think of more as a romantic singer) with "This Is My Life," a strident push for populist action that was actually written by Vassar himself. In it, Vassar mostly complains about the price of gas (which apparently strikes at the very heart of American self-worth) but also takes aim at "fat-cats" (be they Republican or Democrat) and how this down-home working man just wants a good job and the right to pledge allegiance (presumably at a high school football game). It's an interesting song, since it tries to have it both ways, attacking both the GOP (rich corporations screwing the little guy) and the Democrats (who I guess are taking away Phil's right to pray?) but isn't as clearly conservative as you might imagine a mainstream Nashville song should be. Indeed, his closing verse -- about how one ticked off guy can't do all that much, but a bunch of us all working together can really make a change -- practically sounds like an old union song from the 1930s, or an outtake from a Malvina Reynolds album. These themes are explored again on the title track, although a bit less forcefully, and sure seem to point to a real, deeply felt pissed-offedness that's simmering out there in the Heartland. The rest of the album is more standard fare: sweet songs about small town love and big-hearted devotion (particularly on "Love Is A Beautiful Thing," an ode to young love and marriage.) To his credit, Vassar is keeping things relatively rootsy, even recording a bit of Yoakam-esque rockabilly with Los Lonely Boys backing him (on "Why Don't Ya") and other tunes that are surprisingly twangy. All in all, a pretty strong mainstream Top 40 album.

Rick Vincent "A Wanted Man" (Curb, 1993)

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Hick Music Index

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