★★★★★
Like Hank Williams Jr., Southern rocker Charlie Daniels (accompanied as ever by his band) seldom misses a chance to self-mythologize and hammer home the virtues of redneck ways, two of the many themes of Renegade. Still, while Daniels too often walks familiar ground, there's a lot to like here, including some spirited fiddling, a country-rock rendition of "Layla," a sly story of friendship between a prison guard and his charge ("Willie Jones"), and a moving examination of "Fathers and Sons." B-
- ew.com
2009-06-12
★★★★★
"Uneasy Rider" is still perfect--a tall tale of a new outlaw, peace-loving but not a damn fool about it, grabbing a redneck by the symbolic short hair. But a year later "The South's Gonna Do It" sang the praises of long-haired rednecks, and he never looked back. A safer tall tale, the predictable "Devil Went Down to Georgia," put him back on the singles charts in 1979, and in 1980 the Russkie-baiting "America" proved what the self-reliant individualism of "Long Haired Country Boy" was good for...
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-06-06
★★★★★
The adventurous journeyman having long since turned into a professional reactionary, he here offers nine nominally new ways to kick shit down an Interstate divider. Including a hit single lifted from Stephen Vincent Benet, rock and roll heaven south of the Mason-Dixon line, passing criticism of the Ku Klux Klan, and a sentimental reminiscence of "Mississippi," a state the adventurous journeyman fled in an uproar back when he didn't ride so easy.
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-02-27