Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys
Your Favorite Fool
Bloodshot Records
by William Michael Smith

At the last SXSW, I'd made arrangements to meet my son, a country guitarist, at the Bloodshot Records party at the Yard Dog in South Austin. We hoped to see The Sadies and Bottle Rockets and Yayhoos. When I arrived, I found him in front of the stage with a fairly well known Austin session picker.

"I don't know who these guys are, Dad, but they're good."

The session picker nodded and said, "Real good."

It was one of those too-warm March afternoons in Austin. The band looked like they'd had a rough night (or that their night wasn't over yet, as can happen at SXSW), but despite their haggard looks they were wailing on a honky tonk song. The steel guitarist was tearing it up and the stocky singer was leaning into his work with everything he could give it.

After a strong 45 minute set, the MC grabbed the mic and said, "Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys!" They got a nice cheer and proceeded to unceremoniously tear down their equipment in that bored but efficient manner of battle-hardened road musicians who could do it in their sleep if needed but would just as soon not be doing it in the middle of a hot afternoon outdoors with a hangover.

Despite such a favorable introduction, I never thought about the band again until their new CD Your Favorite Fool showed up among my daily quota of credit card offers and important messages about revolutionary mattresses designed to assure my back would survive a hard night's sleep. I shoved it in and pushed Play. Hello, twang, hello two step shuffle, hello steel guitar, hello George Jones voice. Come on in and make yourself to home. Have a beer. Maybe those rumors on Music Row were just crazy rumors.

The first run through was good enough to send me on the mandatory search for background on Mr. Rex Hobart. I was taken aback to find that Kansas City's Hobart had previously been a serious rocker who had only crossed into the country sphere five years ago. I punched play again.

Well, one thing is for sure; Rex Hobart is one fast learner. He's got a smooth, expressive George Jones voice sans the deep East Texas aspect. Dale Watson has nothing on Rex Hobart in the vocal category. And the Misery Boys...well...they are completely authentic. So authentic they are one of the few honky tonk bands I've heard this year that I honestly feel could sneak into Austin and not be pointed out as foreigners before the first set was over. In the Bloodshot tradition, Hobart has recorded with his regular band and the practiced tight smoothness shows on every track. On tracks like "Gotta Get Back to Forgettin' You," this band shows it has a tool box full of the requisite honky tonk chops. Lead guitarist J.B. Morris has all the twang of a Bakersfield ace and his interplay with steel player Solomon Hofer is a thing of beauty, the true mark of a legit honky tonk ensemble. An added plus is that while the sound is pure honky tonk, they play it with the energy of a rock band. There are no wallflowers in this outfit.

As good as the music and vocals are, it would be inaccurate to say that Hobart's songwriting is the strongest element of the album. So suffice it to say that Hobart's songwriting skills are top of the line and of equal quality with the playing. This guy is either just an incredibly natural country songwriter or he has studied the craft intensely. Probably both. Hobart seems to be a gifted natural at honky tonk hooks and phrasing because there isn't a single song on Your Favorite Fool that doesn't sound fit for jukebox play in any self-respecting non-line dancing neon beer palace from Seattle to Miami. Four or five of the tunes would make great material for the likes of Haggard, Jones, or Owens. Hobart may be a city slicker with a rock background, but it takes an honest to God pro to write a honky tonk song as good as "You've Got Some Cheatin' To Do." A husband who admits that he's fallen under the spell of honky tonk girls who "come on strong" and "now my cheatin' heart is the talk of the town" tells his wife "if you'd just get even maybe we could start brand new."

So I'm beggin' like the devil
Come down to my level
And hurt me like I'm hurtin' you
Don't you go leavin'
Just go get even
I'll wait right here, you got some cheatin' to do

The title track, with a great two-beat dance syncopation, also fits in the stone cold country category. Like many a good barroom favorite, the narrator is a suffering husband whose wife is indifferent and uncontrollable. Yet the only solution the fellow finds viable is to put up with her and look the other way ("I'm not sure I'm ready to give up this last hope of love I have"). The chorus is straight from the Buck Owens Cheating Song Handbook.

So just let me be your favorite fool
Don't you tell my heart on me
And I won't tell that other fool on me
Just let me be your favorite fool
You can run around all over town
I'll wait here for you

There is only one cover on the album, but it is the classic George and Tammy duet, "Golden Rings." Bloodshot chanteuse Kelly Hogan takes Tammy's part and the duo gives a totally honest and faithful rendering.

Hobart has a loose genuine honky tonk voice that can echo any number of the greats. Lefty Frizzell's backwoods whine makes "Gotta Get Back to Forgettin' You" as honky tonk as a set of antlers hanging over the bathroom door.

"Pity-me" self-deprecating humor has a long tradition in honky tonk music, and Hobart's raucous twanger "Another Bad Habit of Mine" is a worthy extension of the concept. A husband who has finally had enough of his wife's complaints about his bad habits runs her off only to find it's not that easy. Hobart's wordplay is classic beerjoint and the full-on gallop of the band would make the Derailers jealous.

I guess I was doin' alright for a night or two
I was smokin', drinkin', cussin', doin' anything I wanted to do
But her memory beat me home late last night
And I stood face to face with a new old vice

Now lovin' her is another bad habit of mine
I should've know a guy like me couldn't walk any kind of a line
Everyday I try to turn a brand new leaf
Turns out to be the same one everytime
And now lovin' her is just another bad habit of mine

In what has been an exceptionally strong year for traditional honky tonk country albums, the authentically twangy, dance-friendly uptempo Your Favorite Fool is as good as can be found.

* Now that the wife has hired a wino to redecorate your home, the living room jukebox won't be complete without Rex Hobart's Your Favorite Fool. www.bloodshotrecords.com

Contact William Michael Smith at wms-at-rockzilla.net

 
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