Sometimes Y
By Mike O’Cull
Seemingly improbable partners Yelawolf and Shooter Jennings turn doubters into fools on their new collaborative album Sometimes Y. Scheduled to drop March 11th, 2022 on the Slumerican imprint, the set is a wildly artistic and successful effort that combines a top-level rapper and a two-time Grammy-winning Americana artist and producer to create an original rock and roll hybrid sound.
Imagine arena-shaking 70s rock, 80s rock, hip-hop bravado, and country sincerity put together and melted like candle wax until everything influences everything else and you’ll begin to get an idea of what these two major talents have accomplished. Sometimes Y is a mind-warping record that lives in a wonderful alternative dimension where David Bowie and a more capable Axl Rose team up to front The Cars. You’re going to want to live there, too.
Country music is the tie that binds Yelawolf and Jennings together. Jennings is, of course, the son of country legends Waylon Jennings and Jessie Colter while Yelawolf’s mom’s partners worked with artists including Alabama and Randy Travis. They both grew up in the company of country music royalty, which makes for an amazing coincidence considering the outward differences in their bodies of work.
Yelawolf has inked deals with Interscope and Eminem’s Shady Records and is widely considered a crucial and extraordinary voice in hip-hop today while Jennings is one of the roots music scene’s most sought-after producers who has won Grammys for his work with Brandi Carlile and Tanya Tucker. Put together, however, these two have enough complimentary horsepower to shoot flames out of their straight pipes and have made what could well be the most important record of the year.
Sometimes Y went down in just ten days at L.A.’s famous Sunset Sound studio after nearly being derailed by the Covid pandemic. Jennings brought in his regular band for the sessions as well as a slew of demos, which were promptly thrown out when he realized how well his crew and Yelawolf could write new songs on the spot. The immediacy and flow of this new material proves this to be true and makes for an overwhelmingly positive listening experience.
The record opens with its schizo-phonic title track “Sometimes Y,” a wild ride that features a spaced-out synth intro that leads directly into a speed-soaked blues/rock verse and chorus. It turns out that Yelawolf is a tremendous singer who absolutely owns his turf here and throughout the album. He spits insight, purpose, and tenacity at high speed with a fervor few can equal and impacts like a heavyweight champ.
The country/synth “Hole In My Head” is mellow and insistent at once and shows off the soft side of Yelawolf’s voice in the verses. The choruses hit with a vintage 70s glam/pop influence that is clearly designed to leap out of car radio speakers and get people dancing. It’s a remarkable song that works on all levels.
“Rock And Roll Baby” suggests what might have happened if Lynyrd Skynyrd had listened to a bit more Pink Floyd. It’s an expansive cut full of melodic psychedelia, strong melodies, and a strangeness in its vibe that can’t quite be pinned down. Like so much of Sometimes Y, it delivers a sound you’ve not heard before but you immediately want to hear again. All genre lines are null and void and the song is allowed to be exactly what it wants to be.
Jennings and Yelawolf channel pure rock and roll joy on the irresistible “Make Me A Believer.” Walking a line between The Cars and Cheap Trick, it’s one of those windows-down, radio-loud freeway songs that pumps unlimited energy in the listener’s soul. The high-register guitar hook is instantly memorable and the pocket pushes hard beneath soaring, inspiring chorus vocals.
“Radio” is a perfect 80s-style pop/rocker that recalls period greats like Donnie Iris and Tommy Tutone. It’s an edgy guitar-and-synth blaster with its heart in the right place that will reactivate the youthful urgency those days were all about. Other bright spots include every other song on the album. Sometimes Y will show you a good time, challenge you to process it, and will make you believe that new, actually original songs are still being recorded. Yelawolf and Shooter Jennings are an unstoppable pair without a boundary in sight. Every time you spin this one, you’re going to like it more.
Watch “Make Me A Believer”
Pre-save link for Sometimes Y
Great review. This album, while completely different than what I was expecting, was awesome to listen to.
I found the album was boring an very disappointing I was waiting for it to drop thinking maybe it would be as good as love story but nope I deleted it off my I tunes right away go back to what fans want the radioactive yela!!
Your loss my friend. This is his best work yet!!! Im a fan from day 1. This is a masterpiece. Give it a second listen.
I’m with dewey, your loss. This album is the shit! Yelawolf is a Swiss Army knife of music!
You are a narrow minded dude. Too bad
Whilst initially not being as blown away by the lead singles as I hoped I would be – being a Yelawolf fan since Trunk Muzik and genuinely loving every release – I was enamored by how different a sound the record had than I had expected. I think many people would assume that a Yelawolf rock ‘n’ roll album would be heavy, channelling the vibe so expertly and aggressively laid out on tracks like Here I Am, or even harking back to the Arena Rap sound.
Maybe a little ‘softer’ than anticipated, the melodic element of the album was never in doubt. And just like any Yelawolf album, what you get here is an abundance of moments. Moments of magic in music, those little nuggets that can illuminate even the weakest of tracks. And these moments are spread evenly from opening to closing track, and encased in quality musicianship through a group that clearly have a strong chemistry and able to weave a cohesive project with a huge replay value.
This was certainly a risk for Yela and I’ve already seen too many swear it off due to the unfortunate closed-off minds they are set to wallow in, and I love so much that he has made the record he has always dreamed of, and he should be incredibly proud of such a poignant slice.
Yela can do no wrong, in my opinion. Sometimes songs have to grow on me, I won’t lie. But that dude is insanely talented and smart. I love this review and I’m loving this album.
Great review.. Once you get out of your head what you thought it was going to sound like and just listen you will begin to appreciate what an original masterpiece this album is..
Am I imagining that “Rock and Roll Baby” is just the music from “When the Levee Breaks” by Led Zeppelin? (Sans harmonica)