Kentucky HeadHunters

Such was recently the case with Darius Rucker, whose All I Want from his 2008 debut solo CD, Learn To Live was one of the best country releases of the decade. Rucker of course began to pursue country music after a long and successful tenure as lead vocalist of Hootie And The Blowfish. But he has embraced his new musical identity to such an extent that it is at once both difficult and seemingly futile to associate the present day Rucker with his previous successes.
Conversely, Rufus Huff is a (primarily) Glasgow, Kentucky-based quartet whose guitarist established a respectable legacy in country rock, but who now seeks to embrace the hard rock that over the years has established musical solidarity within country circles. Rufus Huff has in some respects followed the lead of Herman’s Hermits, who approached the concept from the opposite direction in the early 1970s with their groundbreaking Whale Of A Tale country rock album and on stage in the mid to late 1970s with their hard rocking rendition of Merle Haggard’s Honky Tonk Night Time Man. And by decade’s end, the country/hard rock synthesis was in full swing, with Haggard, George Jones, Hank Williams Junior, Johnny Cash, Tompall Glaser and Waylon Jennings in the forefront of the movement.

Rufus Huff has brought the concept full circle under the guidance of guitarist Greg Martin, who founded Itchy Brother (named after a key character in the beloved King Leonardo cartoon series) in 1968 and the spinoff band, the Kentucky Headhunters in the late 1980s. With their efficient and effective Atlee Yeager/Foster And Lloyd hybrid of country, rock and roll and rockabilly, the Kentucky Headhunters became one of the definitive statesmen of the late 1980s early 1990s New Traditionalist renaissance in country music that brought such enduring greats as the Desert Rose Band, Highway 101, the Forester Sisters, Ricky Van Shelton, Clint Black, Holly Dunn, Dwight Yoakam and the aforementioned Foster And Lloyd into the spotlight. The Kentucky Headhunters likewise produced two of the New Traditionalist movement’s definitive singles with Walk Softly On This Heart Of Mine and the great quasi-rockabilly romp, Dumas Walker.

Not that Martin has sought to disavow his Itchy Brother and Kentucky Headhunters legacy. But Rufus Huff has taken it a step further by following in the tradition of such bands as Pink Floyd in taking their name as a hybrid of the names of two blues singers. In Pink Floyd’s case, their name was derived from blues artists Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. Likewise, Rufus Huff’s name was inspired by Ernest Thompson’s 1924 single, Whistlin’ Rufus (which in turn also spawned a Portland, Oregon band named Whistlin’ Rufus) and Fannin, Mississippi native Luther Huff, who recorded the hit single, Dirty Disposition in 1951.

According to Martin, Rufus Huff’s music is, “steeped in the tradition of Cream, Jeff Beck, early Led Zeppelin, Mountain, Jimi Hendrix’s Band Of Gypsies, Cactus and ZZ Top”. And while elements of the work of each of those artists can be found in the twelve selections herein, Rufus Huff has actually managed to pull off the seemingly impossible by placing their own stamp of originality on the inspiration of artists for whom individuality was already a key component of their respective mission statements.

That is, originality in the sense that Rufus Huff for the most part sidesteps the eloquent (and sometimes delicate) musical persona of Disraeli Gears/Wheels Of Fire-era Cream and the occasional ventures into acoustic territory that grace the first three Led Zeppelin albums in favor of a much more ferocious delivery that owes more to Jimi Hendrix disciples Mahogany Rush or some of ZZ Top’s less frivolous moments.

And while much of this unique focus can be attributed to Martin’s state of the art guitar work, lead vocalist Jarrod England (who, along with drummer Chris Hardesty, bides his Rufus Huff down time in the Naked Mole Rats) in turn provides a commanding presence that at once evokes current Queen front man Paul Rodgers in his blues wailing days for the earliest Free albums.

This approach works particularly well on Sonny Boy Williamson’s Good Morning Little School Girl, which differs substantially from the better known and more upbeat cover by the Yardbirds. Likewise the album’s original opener, 13 Daze, in which Martin, Hardesty and bassist Dean Smith waste no time in asserting their collective muscle.
Although some may question the logic at this juncture behind readdressing a form of music that reached fruition during of one of the most unproductive eras in musical history, Rufus Huff has done wonders with this release in in showcasing the viability of the concept. To be certain, if the immediate post-Woodstock period had seen more bands of the calibre of Rufus Huff and less of the self-indulgent prima donnas that ultimately characterized the era, the ensuing friction that fostered backlash in the form of the New Wave/punk movement of the mid to late 1970s may have been a bit longer in coming.