A part of me is positive that I first heard Nicolette Hoang and her merry misfit band on a TV commercial in the mid-1970s hawking K-Tel’s Country Superstars compilation LP—but unless their Ford Econoline is equipped with a flux capacitor, which I highly doubt, that’s obviously not the case. In point of fact, their debut album conjures the mainstream singers of the 1960s and ‘70s (think Donna Fargo, Tanya Tucker and Tammy Wynette, among others) as well as the shotgun blast of sonic newness that was Lone Justice in the early and mid-1980s.
The Long Way is an addictive listen, tear-in-your-beer ballads one moment, nostalgic pangs the next, and rollicking rave-ups sandwiched in-between. The fun begins with the uptempo “Better Days,” about how her friends are getting hitched and having kids while she’s still praying for her dreams to come true. “Rodeo” bucks like a bronco while spinning a broken heart into a spirited vow to stay in the saddle, while the rollicking warning that is “Don’t You Dare” follows. Those three songs are cowpunk anthems, just about.
And then the tears begin. “Show Up,” about loving someone who doesn’t love you the same way, stops the heart. It sounds like a long-ago country hit, just about, while the moody “Ready or Not” conjures such classic outlaw odes as Hank Jr.’s “The Pressure Is On,” but with a touch of Skynyrd tossed in at the end. It sports quite the wild streak. “Didn’t Know” then revisits the mainstream country sound of the early ‘70s. “Losing More” mines the same vein, but with Paul Weber playing the George Jones role to Hoang’s Tammy Wynette.
“Wherever You Go,” too, channels Wynette. It’s one of those big-voiced songs that, in concert at least, lead to rapturous applause at its end. The album closes with a mesmerizing journey into the past, “The Long Way.” Attention spans being what they are, the video trims the near-seven minute song to four-and-a-half—but it’s still plenty worthwhile.
Hoang, it should be noted, hails from Ontario, where her parents—who fled to Canada in the 1970s during the Vietnam War—enrolled her in the Royal Music Conservatory. Her love of country music came during her early 20s when she happened upon a few country LPs in her parents’ record collection. She hooked up with the yet-to-be-named Nobodies years later, when they heard her singing karaoke in her hometown, Guelph; they were originally a covers band, but have (obviously) since branched out into original music. (Thank the good Lord for that!) The band features Ian Bain on guitar, Emma Howarth-Withers on bass and Daniel Paillé on drums, plus Aaron Goldstein on pedal steel and Thomas Hammerton on keyboards.
The Old Grey Cat 