Is it a hit, *hit or miss?

Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash: Distance Between by Dan Grote

Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash: Distance Between 
Label: Ultimatum/Artemis
Hit, *hit or Miss?:  Miss
Rating: 

I wasn�t sure what I was expecting to review when I requested the promo for this album. I think in the back of my mind I wanted to believe the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash would be a hip alt-country group of twentysomethings raised on punk and, incidentally, the Man in Black.

So I was thrown for a bit of a loop when Distance Between�s lead track, �1970 Monte Carlo� ended up being a sincere twang number about one of the sacred stereotypical subjects of country music: a car: �1970 Monte Carlo Chevrolet/It seemed sometimes, you were my only friend.�

Distance Between is working class country, songs about cars, building houses and love, topics so time-tested you�d never see them coming. Truth be told, I�m not quite sure what these guys have to do with Johnny Cash; there�s no �Ring of Fire� or �Folsom Prison Blues� here, nothing that deliciously dark. Hell, besides being country music, I�m not sure what the connection is, and even then, Cash doesn�t even do country anymore, just covers of rock songs.

Furthermore, if this band is anybody�s Bastard Sons, it�s Springsteen�s, as lead singer Mark Stuart does his best Boss impression on most of the album but especially on blue collar songs like �Hard Times,� about building a house, and �Burn Down,� about burning a house down.

Of course, once the blue collars get thrown in the wash, the Bastard Sons really let their inner cowboys come out on �Wind It Up� and �Damage Is Done,� drawling with all their might an some imaginary sawdust-on-the-floor bar.

Perhaps the biggest nail in Cash�s future coffin however is �Long Black Veil.� The song, told by a dead man about his widow coming to visit his grave, features guest vocals by none other than Private Radio mastermind Billy Bob Thorton. Yes, that Billy Bob Thorton. Buyer Beware.

VERDICT: The Bastard Sons do not earn their namesake on Distance Between. There�s nothing hip or wittily dark on this album. This is southern heartland country rock by a bunch of guys who can only pretend to be �too tired to love/too tired to fight.� Songs like �Tears of Gold� have potential, but the ubercountry that makes up much of the album drowns out their few bright moments of talent, and brining on Billy Bob is damn near unforgivable. Let this be a lesson: don�t judge a band by its name.