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Season 3: The Always-Vulgar Wheeler Walker, Jr. Joins The Load Out
Manage episode 323422956 series 2896900
Kandungan disediakan oleh Aaron Perlut. Semua kandungan podcast termasuk episod, grafik dan perihalan podcast dimuat naik dan disediakan terus oleh Aaron Perlut atau rakan kongsi platform podcast mereka. Jika anda percaya seseorang menggunakan karya berhak cipta anda tanpa kebenaran anda, anda boleh mengikuti proses yang digariskan di sini https://ms.player.fm/legal.
In 2016, I was driving down the road listening to SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country channel and heard these lyrics playing on my radio:
“Eating tater tots and p*ssy Sucking mountain dew and t*ts Kicked my grandpa in his nut sack Then I suck my bosses d*ck”
Well, that’s different, I thought to myself. And when I completed the song – and DJ Hillbilly Jim said it was someone named Wheeler Walker, Jr. and the song was called “Redneck Sh*t,” I was struck by the contrast between its lyrics and the production quality. Quite frankly, the music – the composition – was as good as any country song I’d heard in recent memory.
I wanted to know more and requested an interview with Wheeler. Then in late 2017, I conducted one other with him. Many criticized me at the time for interviewing him, wondering why I would supply oxygen to a misogynist who only knows how to articulate his feelings through four-letter expletives. But here’s what many miss or simply ignore: Wheeler Walker, Jr. is a character played by comedian Ben Hoffman. And yes – some do actually find him hilarious. But understandably, many find his profanity-laced, misogynistic music and video rants to be utterly repulsive. In the same vein as Lenny Bruce or Andy Kaufman, I just find what he’s doing to be fascinating.
The reason I am more than willing to speak with Hoffman as Wheeler – and he joins me for the most recent episode of The Load Out Music Podcast – is because he is a remarkable talent. And talent follows talent, which is why Dave Cobb – who has produced albums for the likes of Brandi Carlisle, Chris Stapleton, John Prine, Sturgill Simpson, The Highwomen and countless other stars – has now worked with Hoffman on two albums, including his most recent.
Sure, his forthcoming album Sex, Drugs & Country Music is exactly what you’d expect with songs like “God Told Me to F**k You” and “Sluts in Heaven.” But through Wheeler, Hoffman is trying to make a point about modern cultur, and the state of country music – which he truly despises.
So have a listen and try to read between the lines, if you can.
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