Carrying On With Joey Allcorn

By: Lauie Joulie
Date:
From: http://www.takecountryback.com/joeyallcorn.htm

Columbus Georgia native, Joey Allcorn shares the story of how he faced head on the ‘inevitable’ interview question.

“I was in Macon, Georgia not too long ago doing a show and there was a travel editor from the Charlotte Observer there. I was sitting down talking to him during a break and he said ‘How far do you think you’ll get imitating a dead guy?’”

“I said ‘What do you mean?’ and he said ‘It’s obvious you’re trying to rip off Hank Williams. You do his songs, wear the white hat and you wear the suit like him.’”

“I told him ‘Hell, no! I’m trying to be like Ernest Tubb!’”

“I’d been waiting for someone to say that to me. I’d thought about it before and I’d be saving that one.” He laughs.

Joey Allcorn is who he is and he’s not ashamed of it. His affection and respect for the artists that paved the way for him is obvious and his knowledge of their careers would have ‘Jeopardy’ fans in awe.

Chronologically he’s 25, but artistically he’s years ahead in his passion and knowledge of country music. He discovered the music of Hank Williams when he was a young teen.

“I started listening to Hank Williams a lot and from Hank I want back to see who Hank listened to, which was Ernest Tubb and Roy Acuff, and then I started listening to Hank’s contemporaries Lefty Frizzell and Faron Young. Forties and fifties country music is my favourite.”

Joey Allcorn is one of the most promising artists bubbling underneath the radar of the mainstream country scene. Although it appears that there’s a revolution happening right under the noses, mainstream labels have by and large missed or perhaps even ignored a swelling of support for traditional country music, Allcorn is directly in the know.

“We go into these punk clubs and there are people with mohawks wanting to hear Webb Pierce. So the old country is the new punk. It’s punk to be country now.”

“It’s a generational thing,” he continues “Kids don’t listen to what their parents listened to but their grandchildren do. I came across this quote from Dale Watson one time and he said ‘It’s not your parent’s country music but it might be your grandfather’s.’”

“They may not know Webb Pierce but they know who Hank is and Johnny Cash. I get a lot of people requesting Lefty. He’s a little more well known by the younger people than most people think. It’s a hit or a miss with a lot of those guys because a lot of them never achieved the status of Hank Williams but they are still there. One of my favourites is Faron Young. I love him and I really like doing his songs.”

During his stage shows Joey takes the time to not only entertain but to educate. He uses his acquired knowledge to inform his audience of the music’s origins. As a result he’s discovered that not are only the younger set savvy about real country music, they’re also willing to put their money on the counter for it.

 “I have had them say they saw us and went out and bought a Johnny Cash album.” He says with pride, “When I do their songs and I introduce them to them, they like them and they want to know who did them originally. I probably have sold more records for Hank Williams and Johnny Cash than I have for myself.”

Joey sees a lot of the blame for mainstream country’s problems resting with its misdirected promotion plan.

 “The people that are marketing what Nashville makes are marketing it towards forty year old women. It’s marketed towards women that are married and have kids. Working moms, stay at home moms. In Nashville men cannot sing songs about cheatin’ and whiskey. ‘Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound’ could not be recorded in Nashville today and men cannot sing songs about women cheating but women can about men cheating. When’s the last time you heard a good cheatin’ song by a guy out of Nashville?”

“It’s because all they’ve got all those writers and those little circles up there and they made their own little rules and that’s all that comes out of there now. They have to write what sells. Nashville is so locked in on that one market. That is all they are marketing to but they are going to realize over the next ten years that the people my age between 22 and mid 30’s are going to be the major record buying public and we didn’t grow up listening to 70’s rock stuff. They have to change if they want to keep selling records. Music Row is looking for something&ldots;because they know it’s going to happen and it’s all right there on Lower Broadway.”

Demonstrating his commitment to the music that’s inspired him Is his show opening tune titled “Honky-Tonkin’ Ramblin Man” and the first two lines speak volumes:

 
"Well I sure didn't get my style from MTV,
And you won't ever hear my songs on CMT
Lord, I know most people don't understand
I'm a Real Honky Tonkin' Ramblin' Man"

He’s not fearful of the label retro He sees no shame in recording in the style of the 1950’s. “Being retro is not necessarily a bad thing. It was better back then.”

Don’t get me wrong, he’s by no means trapped in a time warp either. You’ve got to do things the best way you can -- figure out to do it today. He recently addressed this train of thought with Hank III in the studio on ‘This Ain’t Montgomery,’ from his upcoming full length release.

 
"This ain’t Montgomery and this ain’t 1949
It’s a very different world and a different time
So I’m going to do things the best way that I know how
This ain’t Montgomery and I ain’t Hank Williams no how"

Joey’s songwriting talents are solid as is his philosophy behind it. Heartaches are timeless.

“You look at the stuff people are still listening to today and its better to leave things timeless. Hank Williams songs are timeless. There is one song where he talks about World War II but he didn’t focus on it and Hank’s songs are just as relevant now as they were back then. Country songs are there to mark the emotions and feelings that people will go through one hundred years from now.”

“There are some good 911 songs. I think the best one was Alan Jackson’s “Where Were You”. I think that is a pretty song, but you know fifty years from now 911 will be a historic event and people won’t relate to it like they do now. Songs like Your Cheatin’ Heart, people still like that, it doesn’t matter what year you sing it in or where you came from.”

It’s obvious, Allcorn doesn’t just ‘dress the part’ – he talks the talk, and walks the walk. He learns from his contemporaries and his forbearers and like so many he’s in this thing as a part of a group effort. “I wish the best for everybody because it’s all one goal. Everybody’s fighting the same battle.”

Allcorn is an admitted trivia buff, particularly when it comes to Hank Williams. In retrospect we all know Hank Sr. was well ahead of his time and Joey Allcorn feels he’s been born well after. His new album is scheduled for release in the spring of 2006 and will be aptly titled “Fifty Years Too Late.”

I’ve been fortunate enough to hear snippets from most of the album’s tracks and I can testify without reservation that Joey Allcorn’s musical contributions are right on the mark and right on time. He’s also gifted with enough raw talent to get noticed and the tenacity and energy it’ll take to make sure that it happens.

I came across a quote not too long ago about the impact that certain artists have had on the face of country music: “Hank Williams modernized it. Johnny Cash personalized it. And Buck Owens electrified it.” I’d like to add, if given a chance, Joey Allcorn may very well resuscitate it.

He’ll be touring extensively throughout the southeast and hopefully east coast folks will get a chance to hear the music live and in person in the spring.

Keep an eye and ear out to TCB for information on his upcoming 2006 release and in the meantime visit www.joeyallcorn.com and pick up his EP Sex, Drugs and Yodelling