Can't Stop This Runaway Train

 These days it can be difficult to find music that comes from the core. With overproduction and “flash in the pan” artists running amok, it’s refreshing to find someone with integrity. After 15 years of recording and performing, Wayne “The Train” Hancock hasn’t lost the purity in his music.

This king of juke joint swing’s sole purpose has been to put out stellar record after stellar record of his own blend of honky tonk, jazz and rockabilly. He also tours his ass off and plays each show like there’s no tomorrow. It’s not uncommon for Hancock and his band to hit the same town three or more times in a year. His new record Viper of Melody is a shining example of what country music should be. 

Hancock is viewed as an outsider, someone unwilling to bend to the corporate attitude towards his music. He has been an ardent vocal opponent of the Nashville machine. It’s his approach to recording that separates the man they call Wayne the Train from mainstream country. Regarding the layering that went on in the 60s, followed by the voice altering in the 80s, Hancock says, “I’m sure that there were plenty of good records that have been ruined by layering. They’ve just been changed and doctored beyond anything with soul.” 

“Even before that, I’m sure during Hank Williams’ time, there [was] somebody signing a contract who gave up their music, their name, even their sound, which pretty much gives up your soul. That record company now owns you and only wants to make money off you,” Hancock says,  “I try to stay away from what most people call country music just because that mainstream stuff is so different from what I’m doing. I mean, I stopped wearing a cowboy hat just so I could further myself from all of that.” 

Hancock has always been what he calls “a stab wound in the fabric of country music.” His swinging vintage style is too gritty and genuine for mainstream music. He has even gotten away from calling what he does country. “My stuff is more like hillbilly jazz,” he says.

One unique aspect of Hancock’s music is that every album is recorded live in studio. For the individual instrument solos, Hancock calls out to each player to improvise something, which gives his records an intimate feel. “They know the song and the general melody, but they don’t plan anything until they hear me shout to ‘em. That’s when they come up with what they’re gonna play.” Hancock says, “Way back when I was first recording with producer Lloyd Maines, I was yelling out the solos to the guys just ‘cause they didn’t know the order I wanted them to play in, and I thought maybe they would want to edit that out, but Lloyd liked it and said we should leave that in, and its become kind of trademark on my records.”

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Comments on this article

Posted on February 25, 2011 by B Murphy

Saw him twice in one day in SLC. Greatest shows ever!

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