Hasil Adkins What The Hell Was I Thinking? CD

After spending most of the '70s releasing singles on obscure vanity labels, rockabilly legend Hasil Adkins spent most of the '90s regularly releasing full-length albums. On WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING (his fifth album overall and first for traditional blues imprint Fat Possum), Adkins isn't as hopped-up as he's been on prior releases. This is no mean feat for someone who sounds as if he's keeping three separate time signatures due to his self-taught, one-man-band style of playing.

This time out, Adkins croons considerably more, showing off the enormous influence Hank Williams had on this son of West Virginia coal miners. Songs such as "Your Memories" and "Beautiful Hills" really ring out with emotion and are enhanced by a touch of echo. Of course, Hasil Adkins still has a wild streak in him that gets channeled through the runaway tempo and blaring harmonica of "Stay With Me" and the out-of-tune stomper "Gone Gone Gone," which has Adkins singing like Jerry Lee Lewis on a bender. The oddest number on this album is "Up on Mars," a rambling narrative in which Adkins rambles on and cackles about a trip to the Red Planet while absently hitting dissonant chords.

Recorded at the Money Shot, Oxford, Mississippi between October and November 1997. Includes liner notes by Matthew Johnson.

Audio Mixer: Bruce Watson .

Liner Note Author: Matthew Johnson.

Recording information: Money Shot, Oxford, MS (10/1997-11/1997); The Money Shot, Oxford MS (10/1997-11/1997).

Photographer: Matthew Johnson.Option (5-6/98) - "...there ain't much of a purely musical nature to recommend here, but there's a wild, wild blues experience here that'll give you something real and raw to ruminate on..."