Laughin’ and Cryin’ With the Reverend Horton Heat is trio’s first album in five years

Thursday July 30, 2009 - With the Sept. 1, 2009, release of Laughin’ and Cryin’ With the Reverend Horton Heat, the rabidly devout fans of the Rev have cause to revel. That’s because it’s been five long, dry years since Gretsch-wielding punkabilly godfather Jim “The Rev” Heath and company released an album of new material, and that’s five years way too long. Hallelujah, we say!

Landing squarely on the “billy” side of rockabilly, Laughin’ and Cryin’ was markedly influenced by Heath’s love for mid-20th century country music and an open ear for what the band’s legions of fans react to most. That would be the Rev’s more comical everyday take on the world, which is what seemed to reverberate most with audiences at more than 250 shows a year.

Besides, the Rev had grown tired of being taken so seriously lately (well, maybe not that seriously, but you get the picture)—he’d simply noticed that his funnier, country-tinged songs were the biggest crowd pleasers. So, he figured, why not step into the Wayback Machine and travel back to a time before slickly over-produced country tried to pass as the real thing? Why not do an album about the things that really resonate with the fans—psycho ex-boyfriends, deadbeat girlfriends, clueless husbands, expanding beer guts, bad habits, and, well, anything Texas?

So that’s exactly what he did, ably backed by upright bassist Jimbo Wallace and drummer Paul Simmons.

“I really wanted to capture the feelings of recordings of the late ’50s and early ’60s,” Heath said. “The record is kind of from a regular-guy point of view. You know, I like to do stuff that’s kind of tongue-in-cheek; that makes fun of the good-old-boy thing as much as trying to glorify the country-boy thing.”

Welcome, then, to Laughin’ and Cryin’ With the Reverend Horton Heat. Fourteen kickass numbers. Label Yep Roc is even offering a limited-edition version with custom metal speedometer packaging, a bonus disc of artists covering Rev songs and a commemorative shot glass.

Heath professes his love for good old mid-20th century country music, but cautions that the new album wasn’t meant to introduce his audience to a new set of influences. He just wants everybody to have fun, and adds that the next record might just consist of “avant-garde versions of Swahili folk songs done on homemade instruments.”

“Never say never,” Heath said.

The Reverend Horton Heat needs no introduction to Gretsch fans, of course. He’s won a mighty cult following over 20-plus years of an insane work ethic and tour schedule, with a musical style as equally rooted in tradition as it is in breaking it. A lynchpin of the neo-roots movement, he has championed the genre with a mythic stage presence and a live act that turns rock clubs into psychobilly tent revivals nationwide 300 days a year.

Heath and his cohorts kick off an extensive North American tour in August, including co-headlining dates with Motorhead. Visit www.reverendhortonheat.com for dates and details.