Ride

Wayne Hancock, born in 1965, has so effortlessly mastered the old-school, Hank Williams Sr.–dominated country music of the '40s and early '50s that he might want to have his birth certificate rewritten to reflect his authenticity. If one were to put on Hancock's albums without comment, they'd likely be mistaken for records of a much older vintage. He's been compared to Williams many times, and for good reason. His voice shares the same timbre, and his band reproduces the drum-free rhythms so perfectly that songs like "Home with My Baby," "Lone Road Home," and "Low Down Blues" sound like they must be hiding somewhere in Sr.'s catalog. Hancock employs traditional country instrumentation for most of the tunes, though "Deal Gone Down" moves toward late-'50s rockabilly with its twangy guitar and "Gal from Kitchen's Field" throws in a trumpet. Still, his emotions are clearly his own, as the personalized lyrics often reflect.