For his first single in a good, long while, Webb Wilder borrows one from unsung Texas songwriter David Grissom.
“He’s been my friend of 40 years, and he’s one of the greatest guitarists in the world,” says Wilder, a Mississippi native and self-styled ambassador of vintage rock ’n’ roll and roots music of all stripes. “A couple of years ago, we were talking on the phone a good bit, and he said, ‘I wrote a new song, and I’d like to get your opinion on it.’ I told him to send it over, of course—and this simple guitar-and-vocal demo blew me away.”
According to Wilder, Grissom had taken notice of Kentucky’s shift from tobacco farming to meth “and other not so good things.” And out came this unsettling yet oddly liberating tale of a chemically impaired trucker tearing up the highway. The finished version of “Hillbilly Speedball” is a classic Americana romp with a reckless, seedy edge. Wilder loved it so much, he made it the title track for his first album in five years, available May 2 via Landslide.
We’re proud to premiere Webb Wilder’s “Hillbilly Speedball.”
—Hobart Rowland; photo by David McClister
