The Reverend Horton Heat
Laughin’ and Cryin’ with the Reverend Horton Heat - Yep Roc
FILTER Grade: 70%

While country music’s reliance upon everyday people and events is what makes it country, that same reliance is also its biggest flaw. With equal doses punk and honky-tonk flare, Laughin’ and Cryin’ with the Reverend Horton Heat lands somewhere between the genre’s old-time, foot stomping glory and ballads delivered from a liquored, nasally state of reference. The guilty party from this reverend’s point of view? Men—and their beer bellies, nicotine addictions, ever enlarging beer koozies and blackjack tables carrying the reminder that “god doesn’t work in Vegas.” A Chet Atkins cover gives The Reverend some street cred, but at the end of the day, this belongs nowhere with either the twangin’ or spankin’-billy crowd. The guitar picking is Grade A throughout, but prepare to scratch your head as you turn up the volume.