Last of the full-grown men.

He's the thinking man's rock star. A larger-than-life action figure who confesses a love for two kinds of music: rock and roll. Never quite bald, never quite wall-to-wall, his "Economy With Dignity" Tour has taken him from Lubbock, TX to London, Europe. Playing a manic musical blend of rockabilly and R&B with reckless country abandon, he's a product of B-movie culture where women still wear stockings with garters and men always pack heat. He's Fess Parker on thorazine, a saturnine hybrid of James Brown and Jack Webb, whose cavernous deadpan intonations, mastery of the Fender Strat and crack timing make for one hell of a frontman.

His name? Webb Wilder. And it's about time you met him.

We first saw the Hoodoo Witch back in '91. Muss and his two roommates dragged us to the Bottleneck in Lawrence. A friend's band was the opening act for some cat named Webb Wilder from Nashville. Wanting to soak every ounce out of our $12 cover, we stuck around with 50 other folks who obviously had nothing better to do on a Tuesday night. Little did we know that quick pull off the Wiskey Webb bottle would lead to a life-long addiction to his swampadelic brand of expression.


With a brown fedora low across the brow but just above a pair of horn-rimmed glasses, this giant of a musician took immediate command of the stage and jumped right into a five-minute instrumental (Sputnik) that shut the entire bar up and had all mesmorized. He then stepped directly into "Tough It Out", a song of defiance that warns all naysayers to get out of the way 'cause "he's aimin' high and willin' to shoot". He finished the night with, by far, the single greatest cover of Big Joe Williams' "Baby Please Don't Go", we've ever heard. Hell, it was better than the original and that says a lot. By the end of the night, it was obvious this guy was a card-carrying member of the Rock and Roll Justice League of America.

He calls it "service-station attendant music"; "uneasy listening for the psychobilly in you". He's got one foot in Country and one in Rock and Roll and, since they're both 13-As, he's covering a lot of ground. His influences range from the Beatles and Boogie McCain to Muddy Waters, Waylong Jennings, even the Flamin' Groovies. He knows you're never too small to hit the Big Time, no dogs are ever allowed Poolside, The Rest Will Take Care of Itself and the Skeleton Crew always hangs out at those joints that never close.


Thanks to the miracle of broadband, you can see the man who Billboard Magazine once called "part Georgia Satellites, part Dave Edmonds, part Elvis Costello and altogether wonderful" live in concert. The Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour is an incredible online site that harks back to the days when the family gathered 'round Marconi's magic box for entertainment. It's also one of the world's largest free live-performance archives on the webb. When you visit, scroll down to Show #343 and download Webb's performance (it's free). Once your Windows Media Player fires up, fight through the urge to stop watching 10 seconds into the experience. If you can get past the host's first song, you'll be rewarded by Webb himself 'cause he plays right after that.

Bottom line? Webb is unquestionably one of the most underrated performers we've ever seen. We even told him that once while standing next to him in a two-urinal bar bathroom. His response? "Pardon me for not shaking your hand right now." Classic Webb.

How popular is the guy? "Doo Dad", his finest work yet in our opinion, is currently out of print and sells on eBay for upwards of $50 a CD. We've bumped into fans at various shows who drove hundreds of miles just to sing along to "Human Cannonball". And we personally have a small stack of ticket stubs we've tried to throw away on four separte occasions only to think better of it later.


See, this is the guy who reminds us real music is out there and real people are making it. It's About Time Webb did with a new CD, too. He has also coined what will probably end up on our tombstone. Religions could be based on it, dissertations could be given on it and the only reason we don't have a tattoo of it is 'cause it's too long. So just what the hell is "it"? It's the Webb Wilder Creedo:

Work Hard
Rock Hard
Eat Hard
Sleep Hard
Grow Big
Wear Glasses If You Need 'Em

Words to live by, my friends. Words to live by.