On Stompin’ Grounds, the Kentucky Headhunters stay pretty well right where the title indicates: their home turf. Which is a more or less slickly produced southern-fried rock. This album sounds really good and it has a high energy level. The musicians and the producers aren’t breaking any new ground, but they’re right in a solid groove and this album will get your foot tapping and your head nodding along. Probably the only serious problematic element here is the lyrics, which are pretty dreadful. The first track, Neck of the Woods, features some clever song-writing with some nice country-music-style turns-of-phrase. But the rest of the album’s lyrics are pretty terrible. Let’s not even talk about Private Part, which has an endearing acoustic guitar riff, but downright made me cringe. The worst one is almost certainly See Rock City which features the lyric, “I wonder if they have coconuts down in old Tennessee.” I mean . . . maybe? Still, I’m more positive on this than I am mixed really, just because the music is really good and good music trumps most of the time; sometimes, of course, a really, really awful lyric can pull you out of a good backing track just because of what a clanger it is and that does happen hear a few times, unfortunately. Running Water is the best track, I think; it’s got an agreeably bluesy ZZ Top style and perfectly serviceable lyrics. Also a positive: the album clocks in at just over thirty-five minutes with eleven songs, meaning that none of the songs really overstay their welcomes, even the worst ones. This isn’t going to change your life, but it’s fun. 3 stars.
tl;dr – unsurprising, but well-executed, country-rock suffers from poor lyrical content, but it’s high energy, affable and entertaining. 3 stars.