Bap Kennedy – Hillbilly Shakespeare

Recording an album of fairly straightforward Hank Williams covers is about as adventurous as stepping into the slow-pitch cage at the batting range. Sure, you’ll get a bunch of good cuts, but you’d be much more impressive if you were crushing the ball in the super-fast cage.

This admittedly shaky metaphor sums up Bap Kennedy’s Hillbilly Shakespeare. Kennedy, whose solo debut, Domestic Blues, introduced an immensely talented songwriter, takes the easy route by delivering eleven Hank covers that mainly stay faithful to the originals. Despite this lack of adventure, Kennedy does a fine job of honoring Williams. Whether it’s the euphoria of “I Saw The Light” or the resigned gloom of “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”, Kennedy and his band capture the moment, with B.J. Cole’s pedal steel and Keith Weir’s piano usually leading the way.

Kennedy stumbles on a few cuts; his soft, expressive voice sounds out-of-place on songs identified with Williams’s harsh, nasal twang. This problem pops up most glaringly on “I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive” and “Honky Tonk Blues”, the latter of which also suffers from the inclusion of backup singers on the chorus. But the missteps are balanced by tracks such as “Long Gone Daddy”, done as a lively duet with James Hunter.