Listen, I've had a deep and undying love for Waylon Jennings since he was just a pair of hands and a voice on The Dukes of Hazzard. I'm actually into his music now more than ever. That longterm love for The Balladeer means I'm going to root for his son in whatever he does. But, still, how does Shooter's new album make any sense on a film blog? Well, I'll tell you.
Countach is dedicated to / inspired by Giorgio Moroder. If you know him, now you get it. Giorgio is the purported inventor of electronic music and creator of some of the most 80s sound tracks that the 80s ever produced. Top Gun... The NeverEnding Story... Over the Top...?! Yeah. Shooter said the album is a love letter to his childhood and we're only a year apart, so his childhood is my childhood (minus the tour bus and Willie and lots of drugs and whatnot).
"Something that I had just written off as the sound of the Eighties, it was all Giorgio. He's the one that made that wave of music happen. It hit me like a freight train." -Shooter Jennings
Now, I've known for years that Shooter blazes a trail that is all his own in the music business. And when I saw the magnificent album cover for Countach (JUST LOOK AT IT -- IT HAS FALKOR WITH A MACHINE GUN FOR CRIPES SAKE), I knew this one was going to be further "out there" than he'd ever been before. As I listened to it, my first thought was, "Yeah this is weird." and my second thought was, "but it totally works." From what I've seen, that's even the consensus from people who get paid to have thoughts about music. So congratulations, Shooter Jennings.
Ultimately, what this boils down to is how much you want to hear a cover of The NeverEnding Story sung by Brandi Carlile. The answer is very much.