Page 24 - ION Indie Magazine_JulyAug 2021

"Heartache, Hangovers and Honky Tonks" is also available on CD or download, but I strongly
recommend picking up the vinyl LP. This music deserves to be heard on a turntable, and you'll
get the full experience of enjoying the songs while looking at the awesome record cover. For
the best of both worlds in technology, the vinyl album also includes a download card.

Produced and engineered by Rich McCulley, "Heartache, Hangovers and Honky Tonks" was
also produced by Jason Eoff, Jeremy Long, and Jerry Zinn. The album also features incredible
players from the Southern California country and Americana music scene; Jeremy Long, Dale
Daniel, Erik Herrera, Dave Gleason, Gary Brandon, Jordan Shapiro, Rob King, David Serby,
Robert Black, Rich McCulley, Dan Weinstein, Phil Glenn, and Grant Langston.

With all that being said, let's talk more about the music itself. My friend and fellow DJ Sean
Hickey, better known as "Western Red,” who wrote the liner notes for the album says,
"Channeling Bakersfield twang mixed with Texas barroom grit, the band West of Texas is
influenced by countless hard country greats, and plenty of meaty reverb-laden steel and
twangy guitar. No doubt if Faron (Young) and Ray (Price) were here, they’d be cracking a beer
and a smile at the unadulterated honky tonk tones coming from West of Texas.”

Indeed, you will find many of the quintessential styles of traditional country within this record.
Zinn says, "I wanted to have a well-rounded record with some different styles of country music.
I also just wanted to see if I could write a Tex-Mex or Cajun song. I could have easily put a
couple more shuffles in their place, but the album already had several shuffles. I’m also looking
forward to the future to try out some different country styles and rhythms.

Zinn wrote all of the songs on the album with co-writing credit on “This Fool” with Daniel
Goldblatt and “12 Steps To Drinkin’” with Grant Langston. “Foolin’,” which he co-wrote with his
wife, Cindy Zinn, is probably my favorite cut on this record. Zinn goes on to say, “It’s a cheatin’
song and those you don’t usually write with your wife, but this one, I did. When I write songs, I
often come out of the bedroom and say, ‘What do you think of this?’ I think I was stuck on the
lyrics on Foolin’ and we started talking about the story, which lead to passing the notebook
back and forth until the song was completed." I asked him what his favorite song might be from
this project; "Oh man, that’s hard. I really like ‘My Whiskey Life.’ I think the lyrics are some of
the best I’ve written. That was also the first Western Swing song I’d ever written, and I think
it’s going to be hard to top."

Other standout cuts are "Whatcha Drinkin’,” a great shuffle about the inevitable consequences
of having too much fun at the bar. “If You Were In My Shoes" is a swing number with a fuller
sound of fiddle and pedal steel. "12 Steps To Drinkin’" is about falling off the wagon, or as Zinn
sings, “I’ll drink a toast to the wagon as I burn it to the ground.”

With the Tex-Mex influenced “This Fool,” the strains of Cajun music in “Bayou Boy,” and the
Western Swing sound of “Fixin’ to Love You,” the album ends with the classic country sounding
“Sound of my Heart Breakin,’” which Zinn says is plain and simple, “…another heartbreak
song.”

The songs on "Heartache, Hangovers, and Honky Tonks" are nothing but real. That's what
country music is all about. Freddie Hart said it best, simply stating, "It's people put to music.”
Of his songwriter skills, Zinn says, “Inspiration comes when it wants to and sometimes leaves
as soon as it comes. It also has to work between having a wife, two kids, and two jobs.”

Website: http://www.westoftexas.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/westoftexas
Instagram: www.instagram.com/westoftexasband
Bandcamp: www.westoftexas.bandcamp.com
My interview with Jerry Zinn on "My Kind Of Country": https://youtu.be/p4ck-dklxcE