Exclusive: Listen to webbwilder's tribute cover to the late songwriter Russell Smith
Webb Wilder used to play the Amazing Rhythm Aces'"Hit the Nail on the Head" back in the mid-'70s, when he was still known as John McMurray and was in a band called Everready. He was happy to dredge up that memory by recording a new version of the song, premiering exclusively onBut there's a poignant sidebar to the song now as well.
"I never met [Russell Smith], the guy who wrote the song, and he died last July 12, not long after we recorded it," Wilder tells."It's weird I never met him. He was all around Nashville and wrote with a lot of people and kept the Rhythm Aces flag going long after the original band had gone.
"What I wanted to make was an age-appropriate album that was not afraid to rock," Wilder says."Why can't you do both? Why can't you make an age-appropriate album that still has some rock 'n' rollin' in it? I think that's what we did here." Wilder acknowledges a specific inspiration for that approach as well."I'm a huge fan of Nick Lowe," he explains."I saw Rockpile back in the day and met Nick and Dave at an in-store record thing. They were all about clever songwriting with Chuck Berry-inspired rock 'n' roll twists. At some point Nick really seemed to make a decision to not rock, wear slacks instead of jeans and stuff like that.
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