Album Review: Halfway to Hazard – “Halfway to Hazard”

Halfway to Hazard closes their debut album (Mercury) with the self-penned “Welcome to Nashville,” an exceedingly harsh critique of the way buisness is done in Music City. Singing, “It ain’t been this bad since Conway got him a perm,” and citing industry practices such as payola and the use of Auto-Tune (a recording tool which can almost perfectly correct an artist’s pitch problems), Chad Warrix and David Tolliver absolutely lay into the Nashville establishment–as well as their peers, calling some, “soft rock wannabes”.

The problem, however, is that while most of the observations in “Welcome to Nashville,” are on-target, the remainder of the musical content on Halfway to Hazard places the duo squarely within the confines of the very establishment the song so vehemently criticizes. Despite their repeated use of the word “shit” in the chorus of “Country ‘Till The Day We Die,” for example, or the employ of rock techniques such as muted power chords on “Taking Me On,” this record sounds very much like just about every other not-quite-country, not-quite-rock act to recently hit the scene.

Lyrics are a fundamental reason for this–the majority of the album’s songs follow tried-and-true Nashville songwriting patterns, and while the songs are not particularly bad, they are not particularly good, either. This is because the moments of fresh and interesting ideas which are scattered throughout the record are usually spoiled by a bad line or a tired story arc. “Daisy,” for example, features bright, vivid imagery (as well as some cool banjo work), and sounds, at first, like a new spin on the familiar theme of young love in a small town. Instead, we find out that the crux of the song revolves around the narrator’s wife (mother of his child) dying (and subsequently watching down on her family from heaven, where she’s an angel), which, pardon the pun, has been done to death.

Elsewhere, there is the paralyzed man who miraculously walks again, (after praying to the lord–”I Got Back Up”); not one but two country-pride anthems (“Countrified” and “Country ‘Till The Day We Die”), and the heartbroken lover who burns something down in order to excise his pain (in this case, the couple’s old house).

The stories are just so predictable that it’s hard to call most of the album’s songs anything better than average.

Still, this record isn’t a train wreck, especially vocally, where Tolliver and Warrix, who trade off on lead duties, show a great deal of promise. Tolliver in particular is nothing short of a vocal powerhouse.

And, amid all the mediocrity, there are two songs that hint at just how good the duo might be with better material. “The Devil and The Cross,” penned by James Dowel, is a fine example of what happens when Americana meets Contemporary, and while the idea–the story of an out-of-control preacher’s son– isn’t completely original, the song doesn’t pander, instead providing the album with a dose of much needed authenticity.

Likewise, “Die By My Own Hand,” written by Tolliver and Warrix with mega-writer Rivers Rutherford, is nothing short of stunning. “Sex and the City, and Indian food/I never tried ‘em, not ‘until you/But it’s lookin’ like you left me with some habits I can’t break,” Warrix sings, on what is an incredibly fresh and powerful song.

Unfortunately, two very good songs isn’t enough to save Halfway to Hazard from the rest of it’s disappointing material. There’s a hell of a lot of potential here, however–Tolliver and Warrix show that they definitely have the talent to play with the big boys–and with more disciplined writing, this new act could be a force to reckon with in the future–even if they are only halfway there right now.

Recommended Tracks: “Die By My Own Hand“, “The Devil And The Cross“, “Cold“.

Watch: “Daisy” — The Music Video