Review: Matney – The Redneck & The Red Man
Roulette Records (April 26th 2024)
Reviewer: Chris O’Connor
What do you get if you take some ZZ Top, add some ZZ Top, then add a further dash of ZZ Top? You get Matney’s ‘The Redneck & The Red Man’. Now, this may sound as if I am being facetious or sneering, but I faithfully promise you that I actually intend it as a HUGE compliment! This album puts a massive smile on my face, it’s rammed full of groovy lil riffs, pulsing rhythms, and wonderfully smoky vocals … the lil ol’ band from Texas would surely approve of this shitkicker of an album!
Michael Matney is officially a badass for creating this riot of an album, it doesn’t harm that he has roped in the legendary Stevie Salas to produce the beast, but the vision and drive is all Michaels! On first ‘spin’, I was taken back to the mid ‘80’s dance grooves of ZZ Top, even down to the production, but actually, there are other musical influences at play too. The lyrics are pure ZZ with just a smattering of Blackfoot, and Raging Slab delivered with lascivious delight by Mr Matney.
‘The Redneck & The Red Man’ is a delightful short, sharp, shock of an album, featuring only eight songs and clocking in at considerably under half an hour, the joy of which is that it never outstays its welcome, leaving you itching to hit ‘play’ again, as soon as it’s over. Honestly, everything about this album is perfect, the musicianship is spot on, the phat grooves hit the spot every single time, the grooves are infectious as an STD, the lyrics are enormous fun, and the production is beautifully punchy, it really is ‘the complete package’.
Strangely (or not), for me, my favourite song is the sleazily groovin’ coda ‘Washed In The Blood’ which is nothing short of sublime. This is a hip shakin’, stripper/pole dancing classic in the making. Normally artists “front load” their albums, with the strongest numbers up first, but in this case? It’s all good! Here is the perfect example of “all killer no filler!” Stevie Salas co-wrote and added guitar to the single ‘All Fired Up’, adding his own six-string ‘fairy dust’ to proceedings, and the song is an absolute gem in the Texas mud.
Album opener ‘Rebel Saint’ is a stonkin’ statement of intent, being everything that is good and great about slow burnin’ “Tejas/Mexicali” boogie, so bad it ought to be nationwide – if you get my drift? ‘Big Daddy’ is deliciously deviant, utterly salacious and dripping with insidious intent, the bass alone ought to have an 18 certificate of its own! ‘All She Wrote’ could belong to ‘Eliminator’, ‘Afterburner’, or ‘Recycler’ – the sheer cyber-boogie funkiness is undeniable, it ought to have its own hot sauce brand named after it!
‘Tomcat’ is another low down ‘n’ dirty boogie beast, all growling riffs and bass, with a wonderfully throaty vocal, just deliciously “nasty” and every kind of wrong, yet so SO gloriously and conversely right all at once. ‘This Heart Has A Ghost’ is singly the best song ZZ Top never wrote or performed, and I can imagine Billy Gibbons giving this his nod of approval every time.
Finally, ‘One Way Road’ is another bumpin’ ‘n grindin’ little groove thang! Damn I love this album! So much musical goodness In such a compact package (as such). Having cut his teeth in White Boy & The Average Rat Band, then as the six-string sideman to the immortal David Allen Coe, Michael Matney is now ready to take his own place in the spotlight, and ‘The Redneck & The Red Man’ is the perfect vehicle for him to do so. Can I get a ‘Hell Yeah’ brothers & sisters? Righteous!
Tracklist:
1. Rebel Saint
2. All Fired up
3. Big Daddy
4. All She Wrote
5. Tomcat
6. This Heart Has A Ghost
7. One Way Road
8. Washed In The Blood
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