Shooter Jennings – The Wolf

If there’s one artistic trait Shooter Jennings shares with his late father, it’s the way he gets tugged between outlaw attitude and people-pleasing amiability. Sure, Waylon rode with the Highwaymen, but he also threw down with Bo and Luke Duke.

Shooter’s third studio album, The Wolf, doesn’t go quite that far, but it yaws pretty heavily in each direction. The outlaw begins the disc with “This Ol’ Wheel”, a slab of hick-hop that effectively puts Kid Rock’s entire urban-cracker act in the shade. The people-pleaser, by contrast, recruits the Oak Ridge Boys to power “Slow Train”.

The conflict of impulses does nothing for overall cohesion — which Dave Cobb’s relatively glossy production mildly palliates — but it makes for a fun thirteen-song swingset. With the secure foundation laid by his grittily tuneful voice and skillful band (the 357s), Shooter makes room for all his influences and pleasures.

It’s a broad list, certainly: Opry backup singers, Dolly Parton (“A Matter Of Time” paraphrases the tune of “9 To 5”), Tex-Mex horn sections, Dire Straits (a more twangy version of “Walk Of Life”), charmingly raunchy tales from the road (“Higher” could practically be a Skynyrd outtake), and even ’70s country & western of the non-outlaw variety.

Shooter assimilates all that with alacrity and no more than a sideways wink. On the title track, he asks, “Am I country enough/Or too rock ‘n’ roll?” — but he already knows the answer. He’s plenty of both.