Honky-421

MVD
2012

So 421 represents the latest from Texas trio Honky. This act includes JD Pinkus on bass (Butthole Surfers), Bobby Ed Landgraf on guitars (GMC) and drummer Justin Collins. This album was recorded at Willie Nelson's famed Pedernales studio. So what we get is a selection of songs that mostly provide some active frequently twangy grooves. They mix heavy beats and simple rhythms in with some infectious boogie driven passages yet still manage to keep it simple. I think I was expecting more western glide and less pounding energy, but it definitely leans to a powerful delivery. They even mix up fairly well with various tempos here and there. For about the first six or seven songs they were really pulling me along and I was far more impressed than I figured I would be. However they lost steam on the last tracks and lost my attention to an extent as I tried to get into it but felt like they were running out of ideas and even heading to area of doing some rather average material. That slowed down their momentum, but most of this album manages to pull some of the more exciting elements out of a couple of different styles and make it look all too easy.