Hellbound Glory – Scumbag Country review

Hellbound Glory – “Scumbag Country”
(Gearhead)

The last track on Hellbound Glory’s debut Scumbag Country is a cover of Waylon Jenning’s “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?” Retitled “I Don’t Think Waylon Done It Their Way,” it’s a pretty telling demonstration of Hellbound Glory’s sense of song style. They are outlaw country, pure and simple, with David Alan Coe, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, et cetera, so on, and so forth all get plundered on Scumbag Country. You could listen to Wanted! The Outlaws and get pretty much the same effect, really. I don’t see as to why Gearhead president Michelle Haunold was so moved by the group’s demo that she felt the need to write a gushing paeon to the group in the album’s liner notes.

The song stylings are pure ‘70s country, and probably sound fucking fantastic live, but even at eleven tracks, the CD drags something terrible. It really drags any time it starts to slow down, which is about every other track. The slowed-down numbers seem to be Hellbound Glory’s attempt to develop their own sound outside of their aped sound. The band does best when performing stylistic lifts – the best one the Charlie Daniels patterned “Hello Five-O,” an ode to getting pulled over for a DUI. Really, that track and the next (“Chico’s Train,” all about running cocaine) are pretty much the highlights on the album. Once you get past the first four or five songs, it mostly peters out.

Hellbound Glory