The Wednesday Adams of country music serves up a treat.
Fifty-one years after Loretta Lynn shocked Nashville by releasing The Pill, her spirit is alive and well in the form of India Ramey. Her fifth studio album, Villain Era, raises a middle finger to anyone who tells her or women in general how to behave.
As Ramey says, “I’ve spent the last few years finding my authentic self, reclaiming my identity. The title track, Welcome To My Villain Era,’ s me saying I’m not going to suffer fools anymore. I’m not compromising anymore. If my boundaries offend you, I’ll happily play the villain in that story.”
This is her first recording in Los Angeles, and Grammy-nominated producer Eric Corne has gathered a powerhouse band to back her, including Ted Russell Kamp, Chris Masterson, and Eleanor Whitmore. From the first note of the spaghetti western-inspired opener We Ride at Dawn, the story of a group of women chasing down the bandits who tore through their town, you know exactly where she stands. Ramey takes aim at cults and grifters on Cult Money, the lack of real country music in Nashville on Ghost Town, and her battles with PTSD related depression on Nobody’s Coming.
Musically, it’s a fresh blast of traditional country with twanging guitars, fiddle and pedal steel much in evidence. The title track could be Loretta Lynn or Wanda Jackson, and there are definite hints of Tammy Wynette in Cryin’ in my Lingerie, the true story of a loveless relationship. The jaunty Scattered and Smothered sees Ramey reflecting in a late-night Waffle House, singing “I’ve been somewhere I ain’t supposed to be. I’m looking like Alice Cooper in a little black dress.”
Clever lyrics, catchy tunes and a real dose of character. Villain Era shouts loud and clear that India Ramey is doing it her way.
