Song/Video Review- Hellbound Glory’s “Hellbound Blues”
In the last half decade, the once mighty underground of country music that birthed some incredible music and a rousing insurgency has virtually evaporated into thin air, with the last remaining vestiges slunking back into local bar scenes if not retiring altogether, while some of the better stuff has been swallowed up by the fringes of Americana.
But once upon a time the underground was the place to find the real and raw version of country the mainstream didn’t want you to know about, where the cautionary tales of Johnny Cash’s “Cocaine Blues” and Hank Williams Jr.’s “OD’d in Denver” inferred songwriting heavily laced with drug references, yet still carried the soul of storytelling lost in the mainstream’s cleansing of the roots. Sure underground country was a fun romp from all the hard language and illicit substances, and was doomed to fall under its own weight as scuzzy copycats just looking for the party dragged it down. But regardless of one’s blood toxicity, the best stuff from the era held up from not from the substances enumerated in the verses, but the substance behind the storytelling.
Some may look at Hellbound Glory as a has-been of the post-Hank3 punk-gone-country era who should probably have hung it up years ago, but when you have 125 people dying of overdoses every day in America, and opioid abuse up nearly 800% since Hellbound Glory’s posted its 2010 opus Old Highs & New Lows, songwriter Leroy Virgil’s songs and message may be more relevant than ever. In fact the pill references in earlier Hellbound songs darn near foretold the epidemic we’re seeing today.
Hellbound Glory’s latest record Pinball comes across as brash and unapologetic, and it’s underpinned by one of the highlights of the project, the song “Hellbound Blues.” With lines about kilograms “whiter than the Ku Klux Klan” and pleadings to “nuke the whales,” it’s just the right amount of brash dissonance to be completely misunderstood by the politically-charged tight asses, while making for one hell of a ride for Hellbound devotees.
But at the heart of the song is how the scourge of addiction can rule and ruin one’s life, especially in the throes of the dark hours where the devil’s idle hands are hardest at work, and the demons well up in lost souls looking for comfort from incurable heartache. “All the things you’ll do to try to get through the night before the night gets through with you,” Leroy Virgil wails in the chorus, while the video for the song portrays a cocaine robbery that reaches critical mass when Leroy’s partner in crime ODs, and Mr. Hellbound decides to emulate his fellow Aberdeen, Washington native and go out Kurt Cobain style.
Leroy Virgil has thrown away better songs than most songwriters have written in their lives, and the hilarious yet poignant lines of “Hellbound Blues” is further evidence. The video was shot by fellow underground country survivor Bob Wayne, who also released a record earlier this year called Bad Hombre. The visual adaptation of “Hellbound Blues” captures the chaos and hard-pounding energy of the song just about perfectly.
1 3/4 Guns Up (8/10)
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UPDATE: Due to some concerns from folks about the graphic nature of the video, Leroy Virgil has posted a follow up video.
hoptowntiger94
October 27, 2017 @ 6:43 pm
Oh, man. I’m going to be blowing up my dealer’s pager all night now.
What would I give for a Hellbound Glory/ Bob Wayne/ Hank III tour? Not my Tennessee Walkin’ Powder.
ShadeGrown
October 27, 2017 @ 7:12 pm
That would be a sweet tour. Good to have Hellbound back
Aggc
October 27, 2017 @ 7:13 pm
Love the song. Not crazy about the video.
Jtrpdx
October 27, 2017 @ 10:32 pm
The song reminds me of Buckcherry.
RD
October 30, 2017 @ 7:55 am
I can see that. It also sounds like ten other Shooter Jennings songs.
Colter
October 27, 2017 @ 7:41 pm
Man I love Hellbound Glory. I can laugh my ass off and be really sad at the same time on a lot of Leroy’s songs.
Rich1
October 27, 2017 @ 8:13 pm
I found Hellbound through this site and I’m better for it. I saw Leroy and Rico play in a dive a seedy local diver bar and it was one of my favorite ‘concerts’ I’ve ever seen. I bought Pinball as soon as it came out… There are some good songs here… Vandalism Spree is fantastic… well written and hits with Leroy’s biting wit. This song, Hellbound Blues, makes me want to drive fast or raise a glass….
The rest is decent… but why the excess covers and a remake? Give me Rico on the slide guitar instead of the annoying fills in Pinball. I expect more…. Damaged Good, while lacking some of the bravado, was a much better written album. Shell of a Hell of a Man should have made this one. Leroy can out write anyone…. and I look forward to his next effort.
Blackwater
October 27, 2017 @ 9:41 pm
Agreed… its good and I think it’ll grow on me, but I really expected the best HG album yet with Shooter involved. At the moment its not even close. Remake was completely pointless, far worse then the original.
Jtrpdx
October 27, 2017 @ 10:23 pm
Since this is the second Hellbound Glory post in just about as many weeks, I don’t feel too bad about using this comment to implore everyone to go listen to Jeremy Pinnell’s album Tales of Blood and Affection. You won’t regert it….it is definitely a 2017 album that deserves a listen and discussion here.
Aggc
October 28, 2017 @ 5:35 am
Agreed. Love the new Jeremy Pinnell album.
Jtrpdx
October 28, 2017 @ 7:01 am
Yes. Probably in my top 3 albums so far this year. The amount of good stuff coming out of Kentucky these days is insane.
Aggc
October 29, 2017 @ 1:24 pm
I believe his new one is ripe for review here.
Trigger
October 29, 2017 @ 3:39 pm
I never made a new reader by telling them how great the music is that they already know about. My job is not to reinforce anyone’s opinions. Honestly, if everyone thinks Jeremy Pinnell’s great here already, and he’s getting press all over the place, this discourages me from covering him, not encourages me. I’d rather find the diamond in the rough. Unfortunately, when I find those, it’s rare people even read because they don’t recognize the name.
Jeremy Pinnell’s new album is on my radar. Still. Perhaps I’ll post a review as we get near the end of the year, the release cycle slows down, and I can get back to some of the stuff missed. But I could have reviewed 150 more albums so far this year, and there still would be ones I miss. I do the best I can.
Nevin
November 5, 2017 @ 10:25 pm
Well, I hadn’t known of him before. Thank you for recommending this!
(Trigger: I think you may be assuming all your readers are as knowledgeable as your commenters. There are probably a lot of people quietly reading your articles who just don’t learn about the artists that you don’t cover.)
Nadia Lockheart
October 27, 2017 @ 10:56 pm
With this terrifying fentanyl outbreak here in Portland, Oregon…………………………”Hellbound Blues” hit home to me.
Honestly, some of the production reminded me of what often gets depicted as the “Sunset Strip sound” in that the guitars are particularly gritty-sounding, heavy on pedals and rife with a sort of sinister but seductive jolt to mirror the cocaine and heroin tropes. One person mentioned Buckcherry above and I can definitely see where that’s coming from as much as Hellbound Glory’s brand of songwriting is far more intelligent whereas Buckcherry is more about the bacchanalia itself.
And the video definitely mirrors the imagery of the song itself. The use of harsh neon glare and the lack of natural lighting portend the inevitable migraine at best, aneurysm at worst.
Not much more to say about this. It’s one of the highlights of “Pinball” and complements the rest of their incredible catalog so far. I’m thinking a Strong 8 out of 10 for this.
DJ
October 28, 2017 @ 6:02 am
Well that’s a minute and five seconds I’ll never get back.
Jacob W.
October 28, 2017 @ 6:16 am
One of the best bands out there. This release veers a little more into the rock territory, but the album is solid. I can’t ever find any tour info. I missed them in Houston a while back, never forgive myself.
TheRealBobCephus
October 28, 2017 @ 7:18 am
After you posted your last review, I went back and listened to the excavators album. There are some damn good songs on their that deserve some real attention and not just some half baked stripped down strung out studio session. LV is one of this generations best song writers for sure.
Gillian
October 28, 2017 @ 1:10 pm
I saw the video when it posted and was taken aback at that last scene; Leroy is a friend of mine and it hurt to see him at the end of this video. I followed social media and these comments and overall everyone likes the video and I’m over here like I can never watch that again for the rest of my life. So I drunk texted him and apparently other friends and family of his did too. Here is his response: https://youtu.be/mAGK5VL9JeI
Trigger
October 28, 2017 @ 3:17 pm
I agree the video is pretty graphic, and I can understand how some people may see it as too much. But I think all great art is unsettling at least a little bit. I thought this was really well done, and that’s coming from someone who loves to poke holes and things.
RD
March 8, 2019 @ 10:06 am
Just saw some recent video of Leroy Virgil performing on a cruise. He looks like death. He looks like Jim Morrison in Paris.