DESCRIPTION:
from the "Hillbilly Heights" 1999. Lazy S.O.B.
Every year the uncommonly fertile Austin music scene produces at least one impressive new act that seems to come out of nowhere. This year that artist is Roger Wallace, a singer-songwriter originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, who possesses a whiskey-soaked voice that was made to sing country. He also has a remarkable way with melodies and lyrics that draws from the tradition of classic country and defies his youth.

Hillbilly Heights is a marvel of honky-tonk, resembling Dwight Yoakam's debut Guitars, Cadillacs Etc. Etc. in many ways. Some of the credit for such a refined piece of work deserves to be passed around, as Wallace gathered some of Austin's best players to assist him. Guitarist Jim Stringer, bassist Brad Fordham, pedal steel player Marty Muse, drummer Lisa Pankratz and fiddle players Elana Fremerman and Erik Hokkanen are on Austin's A-list for playing hard, cry-in-your-beer country, and their efforts throughout the disc are stellar.

Even with such prodigious backing, though, Wallace remains the focus. He sings of regret, heartbreak, revenge, loneliness and despair with uncommon skill, and his songs hold their own next to covers from the likes of Wynn Stewart, Jerry Reed, Kris Kristofferson and Shel Silverstein. Sometimes a debut release this good is hard to follow up. But anyone who's caught one of his hot performances in honky-tonks around Texas knows that right now, he's the real deal.

No Depression October 31, 1999

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