It's A Labelling Error! Really! Billy Ray Ain't That Bad!

 

Billy Ray Cyrus is responsible for a lot of crimes against humanity: Achy Breaky Heart, linedancing doofuses everywhere, the improbable pompadour-mullet combo, Miley Cyrus. Most of his music – at least from his earliest days, way before he bcame a country-crossover star again due to Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” – strangely enough doesn’t fall into that category. As a matter of fact, it is quite a bit better than its extermely feeble reputation. His debut album Some Gave All, still the best-selling debut album of all time by a male artist has its moments, follow-up It Won’t Be The Last was a bit of the famous sophomore slump, but Billy ray then bounced back strongly with Storm In The Heartland, our One Buck record of the day. 

Cyrus isn’t a particular great singer, nor songwriter, but he knows his lane, and his lane clearly is country approached from a rock perspective. He decided to included a fake sticker on the back artwork that announced 'This album was made LOUD to be played LOUD', and you know what, he's not wrong. While his first two records filled the mainstream country with as much rock attitude as the record-buying public would allow, Storm In The Heartland is easily the heaviest of those three records. Not Black Sabbath- or Pantera-heavy, obviously, but as much a rock record as a country one. 

Oh look, it's young Billy Ray and very young Destiny Hope a.k.a. Smiley a.k.a. Miley Cyrus

That's what the labeling error in the title alludes to: Since he is known for mainstream pop(-pish) country, Billy Ray got a bad rap, but if this album would be labeled Southern Rock no one would bat an eye. Because Storm In The Heartland is, for major parts, exctly that, a countryfied take on Southern Rock. It even has a theme song of sorts in "Redneck Heaven", where "my southern roots are burid and Van Zant still lives on", as Cyrus intones. 

Now, to be fair, there is a number of ballads on here, but apart from "Only God Could Stop Me Loving You", which I relegated to album closer duty is maybe a little too cloe to the AOR power ballad format (Bryan Adams called and wants his song back...), these are nicely done and keep the 'sweet and icky' factor at bay. The title song seems to start out as a ballad, before drums and guitar take up a lot of space, the same is true for "The Past", the only song Cyrus wrote entirely himself here. Both songs also have some slight gospel influences. And there is real rock grit to "Enough Is Enough" and "Geronimo", two pounding stompers. and the fittingly rollickin' "Roll Me Over", while "Casualty Of Love" dips into a blues rhythm, another obvious marker for the Southern Rock bonafides of this album. 

The Mullet Maketh The Man...

As is sometimes necessary, I tried to improve the album with the old addition by subtraction formula, and here I cut the knife in deep to get rid of the fat of this CD era album: I tossed no less than four numbers from the line up, for a lean, mean, old school vinyl era record: ten tracks, a little under forty minutes, all killer (well, almost), no filler. 

So, don't be a snob and check this out, it may surprise you!