Some nights I flip through the channels for weather updates, purposely bypassing those headlines sure to churn my stomach. Storm troopers here, there, and everywhere attempt to replicate certain horrors of long ago, while the wannabe overlords seek to strip common men and women of their vote. (Taxation without representation isn’t an anachronism anywhere but in the minds of the tinpot despot and his band of gerrymandered villains, it seems.) Am I falling for brimstone-and-fire sermons that future generations will eventually decry? Are those on the other side? At some point, hopefully, we’ll know who embraced distraction and who eschewed destruction.
I’m not sure where country singer CJ Hooper, who hails from western Washington by way of Texas, stands on most things beyond collecting stories—and that’s okay. He has a voice like Merle Haggard, a mindset to match, and songs that resonate longer than their runtimes. “Burn It Down,” the hard-chargin’ lead track on his sophomore set, Over Yonder, seems to delve into what some might call “bothsidesism” but others might call fair. (To borrow a line from an old Buffalo Springfield song, “Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong.”) Whatever the case, it reminds me of Hank Jr.’s populist laments of the late 1970s and early ‘80s.
The rest of the seven-track release contemplates matters closer to home, with “Damaged Plan” leaning on a country shuffle while sharing a bittersweet confession about a relationship gone wrong. The dramatic “Hard Times” steps into the shoes of a working man struggling to keep his head above water, while “Lookie Over Yonder” points to the hope that every sunrise brings.“Rain Song” turns the weather into an artful metaphor about a past love, while “The Collector” dusts off the stories Hooper gathers and shares. The seven-track set concludes with “Yonderer,” about how our dreams often seem out of reach—not that it stops us from reaching for them.
Hooper says he learned to love country music from his parents’ collection of old-school classics, including favorites from Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, and the Charlie Daniels Band. The thing about those artists, and others of their generations, is that their songs reflected the trials and tribulations of everyday folk. Over Yonder captures and conveys similar sentiments. It’s well worth a listen.
The Old Grey Cat 