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It starts with the cover, a black and white shot, a picture of a man with an air of confidence purchased with the knowledge that he has reached his destination on his own terms, grinning around a cigar and leaning against a weathered sign that says "Almeria Club." Then there's the CD booklet with pictures of Hank Williams, Jr., past and present, child as father to the man, with his paternal and maternal grandfathers, as well as musical stepfather Johnny Cash peering uneasily but defiantly into the future. There's also a history lesson, a story of how an up-and-coming musician named Hank Williams who with wife Aubrey played at a roadhouse named the Almeria Club one summer night in 1947 and how the events of that evening resulted some 54 years later in the music by their son which is the sum and total of the ALMERIA CLUB. But none of these items, nor anything which Hank Jr. Has done before, will remotely prepare you for the music you're about to hear, music which transcends its genre while remaining stubbornly and loyally true to it, music which defines its genre as perhaps no other collection has (with the possible exception of the George Jones masterpiece I AM WHAT I AM), music which will stand as a memorial and a textbook for those already here and those to come as the penultimate example of how the job is done.

ALMERIA CLUB was recorded in three places. One was the Greater Pentecostal Temple in Kansas City; the other two were the Almeria Community Club itself, a schoolhouse turned community club; and the site of the original Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport, Louisiana, where Hank Sr. and the Hayride established a symbiotic relationship which catapulted both to fame which has lasted for over half a century and counting.

It is perhaps an example of Williams' confidence that he begins ALMERIA CLUB with "Last Pork Chop" a blues tune credited to Thunderhead Hawkins. Hawkins, for the uninitiated, is Williams' blues persona, and while Williams in the past has amply mined the territory where blues and country meet, he demonstrates on both the electric and acoustic versions of this song that he still knows precisely where to hit the motherlode. The next track, "Go Girl Go," is a relatively unknown rockabilly gem. Largely rewritten by Williams, he remains true to the original while making it entirely his own. Williams brings in Kid Rock ---yes, Kid Rock, the rapper, and the man who refers to himself as Williams' "Rebel Son"--- for "The 'F' Word," a treatise on the subject of the differences between country and rock 'n' roll. "In country music, you just can't say the 'F' word," Williams instructs, not that the word doesn't have its proper place: "you gotta scrape me off the ceiling/when Mrs. Hawkins says it with feeling'" is unforgettable, while defining at the same time.

Williams could have continued in the same vein throughout ALMERIA CLUB and walked away with a winner. It is with "If The Good Lord's Willin' (and the Creeks Don't Rise)," however, that the listener becomes aware that there is something classic, something eternal, occurring here. The title, Hank Sr.'s show-closing statement, is read by a nine year old Hank Jr. at the beginning of the track, and the lyrics come from a handwritten sheet discovered by Hank Jr. Among his father's effects. Hank Jr. set them to music; the result is an instant classic, a collaborative effort between father and son separated by half a century that instantly earns a place in the legacy of each and both.
"X-Treme Country" is an amalgamation of country and rock, a track looking for a home in another medium, in the same manner in which Williams' "Are You Ready for Some Football" became more than a song, more than a theme, entering the national lexicon as a catchphrase for anyone from the age of five to the age of seventy. "The Cheatin' Hotel," on the other hand, is country at its best, a metaphor for betrayal, drinkin', and sinnin', exploring well-worn themes yet making them new all over again while simultaneously creating a new standard. It is with "Big Top Women," however, that Williams treads on ground rarely traveled. The track, which does not concern the women of Ringling Brothers, appears to be an ode of appreciation to Mrs. Williams specifically and well-endowed women in general. The subject matter of the song will undoubtedly draw the most attention, at least at first, and this is unfortunate; for what Williams does here is bring together many different genres--- blues, country, swing ---at their common borders, blur the distinctions, and ultimately render the differences obsolete, at least for purposes of classification. It is doubtful that anyone will ever cover this track. It is one of those songs where, upon first listen, it becomes obvious that no one will ever be able to do it as well.

ALMERIA CLUB closes with several nods to the past. Williams' presence in the "Outdoor Lovin' Man" is William's first song played with a five-string banjo, an instrument he learned from a teacher by the name of Earl Scruggs. And his playing---who'd have thought it, after all this time? --- does the teacher proud. "Almeria Jam," the CD's only instrumental, sounds as if Hank Sr. and John Lee Hooker sat down together for a little friendly duel. Frankly, I would not be surprised to discover that both were, on some plain of existence, in the room when this was recorded. It is the next two songs, "Tee Tot Song" and "Cross on the Highway, " however, which shine the brightest on a CD already loaded with gold and silver. "Tee Tot Song" is a tribute to Rufus Payne, a shoe shine man who taught a sickly 13 year old logging camp kid named Hiram Williams Sr. to play guitar and introduced him to the blues.

Hank, Jr., in a little less than four minutes, pens a tribute to a man he never met and writes his name large upon the history of music. Payne died within a year after meeting Hank Sr.; such is the happenstance of fate. While some (including myself) may wonder what would have happened if they had never met, Hank Jr. wonders what would have happened if Tee Tot had been around just a bit longer, while simultaneously, chillingly writing Hank Sr.'s obituary: "I wish that Tee Tot could have stayed around/Then maybe Little Hiram would not have drowned/In all those things that does a boy/That wants to sing no good." Hank Jr. gives no respite to the listener, choosing instead to follow "Tee Tot Song" with "Cross on the Highway." "Cross on the Highway," recorded at the Pentecostal Temple of Bishop Marvin E. Donaldson in Kansas City with the church choir and musicians, is a tribute to Derrick Thomas and Mike Tellis, friends of Williams who were tragically killed in a weather-related traffic accident. The song, a magnificent tribute to both men which begins with a bluesy B-3 riff over a country melody, segues unexpectedly into an unforgettable gospel chorus which echoes in the listener's ears long after the song is over. It is impossible to hear this number and not be subsequently, and tearfully, reminded of it every time one passes a homemade highway memorial marker. The closing track continues in the memorial vein, rewriting the classic "A Country Boy Can Survive" into "America Will Survive," a post-September 11 tribute which is simultaneously defiant and inspirational.

Williams, in his early 50s and with close to 80 albums released over the course of a storied career, has released the statement of his, of anyone's career. A statement which is by turns autobiographical and a tribute to those who have gone ahead, ALMERIA CLUB will endure as a classic, not merely of its genre, but of music. This is an album to savor slowly and repeatedly.