The last of the full-grown men, Webb Wilder, returns to the stage in the This is Noteworthy listening room to celebrate the release of his new album, Hillbilly Speedball.
DJ Swarthy Menace (Scott Barretta) will be spinning rare 45s before and after Webb's performance!
The lowdown:
Who: Webb Wilder w/ DJ Swarthy Menace
What: A musical performance from an "electrifying artist."
When: Friday, July 25. Doors @ 6:30pm / show @ 7pm.
Where: This is Noteworthy in the heart of downtown Water Valley.
Why: Because life's too short to not get out and have a little fun sometimes.
How much: $10 at the door (all funds go directly to the performer) / BYOB if you wanna.
More info:
Webb Wilder returns with Hillbilly Speedball, his first new album in five long years. Backed by a small army of musical friends old and new, Wilder's brushstrokes across the album's 10 songs balance tempered restraint with raucous abandon.
"The further I got into recording these songs, the more the fire got lit," he comments. "I'd been in this sort of stasis, and David Grissom, one of my oldest friends and a brilliant guitarist, sent me a new song to check out called 'Hillbilly Speedball.' I liked it. It was in the same key as my biggest successes, and I asked him, 'Hey, what if I do it?' That's how it started."
Other notable guests on the album are Vince Gill (who Wilder calls "the world's most down-to-earth superstar"), iconic Wrecking Crew session man Richard Bennett, Fats Kaplin (ex-Jack White), and an extended family of heavyweights from across the music spectrum.
As the album unfolds, we're treated to covers famous and obscure woven in with Wilder's latest originals. "You have to strike a balance, you follow the breadcrumbs. I'm a sucker for songs I love. It goes back to hand-me-down 45s I got as a kid. Certain songs hit you at just the right time, the right age, the right moment, and they stay with you forever."
Beneath the groove and the good times that go with it, there's an invisible ink layer of introspection. "The older I get, the more I get to know myself and connect the dots as to why I am who I am. Apparently, I've always been drawn to beat music and roots music of varying stripes, and when genres blend, all the better."
Hillbilly Speedball is the (lucky) 13th album in Wilder's long and storied career. His nearly four decades in the public eye have included stints with major labels, MTV airplay, induction in the Mississippi Musicians' Hall of Fame, and being one of the first DJs hired by a then-upstart XM Satellite Radio. He was Americana before it had a name, and is bonafide Roots Rock Royalty.
From gravel switchbacks to eight lanes of blacktop, Hillbilly Speedball cuts a roadmap through a landscape that goes from the very roots of Rock and Roll to Outlaw Country, straight-up Blues, bits of Brit, and all points in between. It's Americana Rock and Roll in the purest sense, and a joyride worth taking again and again.
-- Biography by Larry Kay, 2025
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