Review of Keller Williams and the Keels' Thief

Keller Williams' Thief will be released May 25

It’s become a bit of a trend of late for artists to release entire albums of cover songs, from Roseanne Cash’s The List to Cat Powers’ Jukebox. But leave it to Virginia folkster Keller Williams to not mince words on his aptly named album Thief. Williams describes Thief as “self-indulgent. Like all my albums.”

Recorded with Williams’ bluegrass side project Keller Williams and The Keels, Thief is a perfect covers’ album for the hipster generation. Every song is presented with a winking irony and self-awareness that tries, barely, to hide the proficiency and musical diversity that Williams and his partners, husband and wife team Larry and Jenny Keel, put on display.

The album’s first song, Kris Kristofferson’s “Don’t Cuss the Fiddle” sets the tone for the rest of Thief. What better way to kick off a covers album than by covering a song about stealing other people’s music? With lyrics like “if we ever get to Heaven, son, it ain’t because we ain’t done nothing wrong, we’re in this gig together so let’s steal each other’s songs”, “Don’t Cuss the Fiddle” removes any lingering thoughts that Keller Williams takes himself seriously. It’s the perfect choice for a starter.

For the other 12 songs on the album, Keller Williams and The Keels rip through a list of artists as diverse as they come. In addition to covering musically compatible acts like Yonder Mountain String Band, Drive-By Truckers, and Ryan Adams, the band also stretches their musical boundaries, covering Amy Winehouse, Butthole Surfers, and The Presidents of the USA.

Overall, the album has many more hits than misses. In addition to the previously mentioned “Don’t Cuss the Fiddle”, other album highlights include some beautiful vocal harmonies on Drive-by Truckers’ “Uncle Disney”, Williams showing off his Celtic chops with a stellar cover of The Grateful Dead’s “Mountains of the Moon”, and a rework of The Raconteurs’ “Switch and the Spur.”

While most of the “out there” covers work fairly well, the one exception is Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab.” While bands have successfully turned the music of Metallica, AC/DC, and even Snoop Dogg into country tunes, there are some songs that just can’t survive the transition. “Rehab” is one of those.

Thief will be released on May 25 and I’d recommend picking it up that very day. Thief is a toe-tapping good time and has been in heavy rotation on my Ipod since I got my review copy. This truly is what a covers album ought to be; a band who sounds like a bunch of friends sitting around someone’s living room riffing on their favorite tunes.

The full track listing for Thief is as follows:

1. Don't Cuss The Fiddle (Kris Kristofferson)
2. Uncle Disney (Patterson Hood)
3. Rehab (Amy Winehouse)
4. Get It While You Can (Danny Barnes)
5. Cold Roses (Ryan Adams)
6. Mountains of the Moon (Grateful Dead)
7. Teen Angst (Cracker)
8. Wind's On Fire (Yonder Mountain String Band)
9. Switch and the Spur (The Raconteurs)
10. Sex and Candy (Marcy Playground)
11. Pepper (Butthole Surfers)
12. Bath of Fire (Presidents of the USA)
13. The Year 2003 Minus 25 (Kris Kristofferson)