Pat Haney is from the same part of the country as Chris Knight, and according to his biographical information, actually worked in the same BP gas station that Knight once worked in. So it is not surprising that Haney brings a lot of that same working class hillbilly angst to his songs that Knight showed on his first album. And like Knight, Haney has, with the assistance of producer and fellow Kentuckian Ben Ewing, recorded 'Wrong Rite of Passage' with some of Nashville's better "underground" players. What emerges is an album that certainly has little in common with mainstream Nashville. In fact, Haney has more of a neo-Texas sound than Knight and many other singer/ songwriters on the left side of Nashville have.

Some of Haney's work like 'Hound Dog Poetry' is folksy, fun and light and there are several good examples of love and love-lost songs, but the meatiest cuts on Haney's debut album have a hard-scrabble darkness and a redneck mean streak.

Haney has spent considerable time working on Mississippi River towboats and his 'Jealous of the River' is a river song full of angst and foreboding.

Now I'm jealous of the river and he's my brother
'cause he's got Memphis all to hisself
But he weeps sometimes when strangers go inside her
It tears a hole in his mother's soul to see her with someone else

'Dragging Green River Again' is another biting Southern tune about a series of drownings on Green River that features some bad-boy Southern slide guitar punctuation by Curtis Burch. As the narrative moves forward, a local drunk drowns while on a drinking binge, a gambling judge who never loses vanishes in the river, and a local woman who makes a habit of slipping around behind her husband's back also disappears. And the last verse shows the depth of Haney's songwriting skills.

The old preacher took me down to the river
He said it would wash away my sins
Preacher man walked in and I just stood there lookin'
Now they're draggin' Green River again

There's something about blue lights on green water
That let's a man know just where he stands
You might could fool your neighbors, think you've got it hid
But Green River knows exactly what you did

There is a long and noble tradition of coalminer songs in Kentucky. Haney's 'Won't Be Over No Coal' is a jaunty, defiant miners lament.

I was born before my brother and I guess I'll see him die
He took a job at Wolf Creek mine and it made our mama cry
He said he might could get me on but God knows I won't go
I might farm these rocks and just starve to death but it won't be over no coal
It won't be over no coal, boys, it won't be over no coal
When I draw my dying breath, it won't be over no coal

'Wrong Rite of Passage' definitely has the Chris Knight vibe and some very sinister slide guitar picking. This is a white-trash Southern coming-of-age-all-wrong song that lands somewhere between alt-country and Southern rock.

16 years and I was workin' hard
Had the engine of a GTO spread out in the yard
Daddy walked by, he said that car'll never run
I put a greasy fist in his withered face and laid him out in the sun
Highway 40 ain't no place to be when you're down to your last cent
Cotton and tar are your kinfolk and the Devil's your best friend

Haney gives a fine performance on the Wilco-ish alt-country 'Follow You,' which is one of the more sophisticated songs and arrangements on the album.

'Cause you don't know me like I know me when my darkness comes
But you know I wouldn't keep you from the truth
And I can't take another step knowing you're right behind me
So maybe I'll just follow you

'Wrong Rite of Passage' has something for everyone, and that is both a strength and a weakness. Mixing ballads and singer/songwriter sensitive songs with the meaner, grittier material spreads the appeal, but it also works to dilute the continuity of the record occasionally. Haney is young and still developing his writing style and his presentation, and undoubtedly his records will grow in sophistication as he moves his career forward. Based on "Wrong Rite of Passage," it is a career worth checking back on.

*Pat Haney's "Wrong Rite of Passage" is available at www.freefalls.com He will be appearing soon at the Boar's Nest in Dallas.

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

 
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