Reverend Horton Heat

REV

Victory Records

Street: 01.21

Reverend Horton Heat = The Cramps + Chet Atkins + The Cavaliers

Anyone who knows Jim Heath knows that there’s no greater friend to rock n’ roll. Reverend Horton Heat have been wowing audiences with rockabilly virtuosity that nothing else compares to. REV could be called a return to form for the band after the less-focused Laughin’ and Cryin’. A few changes in record labels and the return of longtime drummer Scott Churilla have done the boys well. It would be an easy review for me to say, “It’s a return to the way they were in the mid-’90s,” but that’s simply not true: This band boasts nearly 30 years of experience, and to suggest that isn’t evident in the songwriting and playing on this record would be silly. Country, psychobilly, jazz and Texas blues all stop by this rockabilly party, and although they show no signs of slowing and I’ll always want more records from the Rev, I can honestly say this record could cap off their glorious career beautifully. –James Orme