Seven years ago, a country artist emerged that changed the face of the genre, as he attempted to follow in the footsteps of David Allen Coe, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings and breathe a rebellious spirit back into what had become a very safe, pop-infused style of music.
Well, that’s not quite how it happened. Wheeler Walker Jr. may have developed a loyal legion of followers — on Spotify alone he has over 1.6 million monthly listeners and the track “F**k You Bitch” has been streamed over five million times — but the country music elite never embraced him or his music.
It’s not hard to see why, though. While the band Steel Panther has been embraced by the rock and metal community despite having hilariously R-rated and sexually explosive lyrical content, the world of country music apparently wasn’t ready for Wheeler Walker Jr. or songs like “Sit On My Face,” “Finger Up My Butt” and “F***ed by a Country Boy.”
So if the country folks aren’t ready to come to the Wheeler Walker Jr. party, perhaps the rock world will be. His brand new album, ‘Ram,’ presents a more rock ’n’ roll approach with tracks like “Dump Truck,” “Money ’N’ Bitches” and “Fingerblast.” This may be Walker’s fifth album — his second in two years — but in some ways, it’s a new beginning for the always outspoken, never apologetic (and very adult-nightclub-friendly) rebel with a cause. – Dave Manack
Note: This interview was conducted by Ilan Fong and Danny Meyers of the “What’s Hot in the Strip Clubs” podcast, in conjunction with Bob Chiappardi of StripJointsMusic.com (questions via ED Publications’ Dave Manack).
Also check out Wheeler Walker’s PANDA OFF THE CHARTS interview right here!
ED: Back in 2016, you released the song “Drop ‘Em Out,” an obvious tribute to nice racks everywhere. So it clearly should be no surprise that your new song “Dump Truck” is definitely a tribute to the big booty. The real question is, are you a butt guy or a boobs guy?
Walker: Ever since “Dump Truck” came out, I’ve been getting that question a lot, and it’s a tough question, like, ‘Do you like cookies or pizza?’ I know you’re looking for an answer, but I wish there were butts on boobs. I like women, and they got both.
ED: Well, that’s why the good Lord gave us two hands.
Walker: Yeah, exactly. Two hands and a dick.
ED: Do you have any favorite strip clubs in the south, especially ones where you can see a good ‘dump truck’ booty?
Walker: Well, I live in Nashville, and — I don’t know if you guys have heard this — Nashville’s got some work to do on the strip club thing. I kind of want to open a strip club. I think ‘Wheelers Strip Club’ would be great. You said this is a big publication, like kind of the trade magazine for strip clubs. You want to open a Wheeler’s Strip Club? You talk to my people, and we’ll get you one. License my name and put my picture out front, and we’ll get one going. Right now, it’s very corporate there. Nothing wrong with it. To me, ain’t no such thing as a bad strip club. But there’s this place — do you remember Sammys in Pensacola?
ED: Yeah, sure, my friend’s running that club now. It’s a Pony Club now.
Walker: I haven’t been there for years. I just remember having a good experience there.
ED: Well, if you ever want to go back, I know the GM, the DJ and the owner, so I’ll get you set up.
Walker: Oh shit, you know everybody. All I know is a girl I knew there for about five minutes, so you know more people than me.
ED: You have another new track, “Money N Bitches,” and that song definitely has more of a ‘rock’ vibe to it than your other music. From what we’ve read, this new album ‘Ram’ is a full-blown rock album. What inspired you to shift gears and rock out with ‘Ram’?
Walker: My shows have always been very rockin’, but I’ve been noticing that country music is just — I can curse, right? — country’s just full of fucking pussies. And I like to say bad words. I like to speak the truth and say how I feel. I don’t like to be censored. In the old days of country music, there were rebels. There were Waylons, Willies and David Allan Coe and they were pushing the boundaries. And now, there ain’t nobody. It’s just a whole genre of music for people that are playing it safe. I wanted to rock and I wanted to change. Let me just put it as plainly as I can: I didn’t want to be associated with these fucking pussies anymore.
In the old days of country music, there were rebels. There were Waylons, Willies and David Allan Coe and they were pushing the boundaries. And now, there ain’t nobody. It’s just a whole genre of music for people that are playing it safe. I wanted to rock and I wanted to change. Let me just put it as plainly as I can: I didn’t want to be associated with these fucking pussies anymore.
ED: You just released the album ‘Sex, Drugs & Country Music’ in 2022 and came right back with your new album ‘Ram’ which comes out this week. What made you come out with a new album so quickly after your last, when most bands and artists take at least two or three years between albums? What provided this creative inspiration?
Walker: Well, one of the things I did when I first started playing this music game was I made sure I was not owned by any corporation. I put my albums out independently. I’m an independent artist, even though, by my streaming numbers and chart positions, people think I’m a major label artist, and because I’m so fucking good, people think I’ve got a big corporation behind me. But I don’t, so the reason I do that is because I don’t want people telling me what the fuck to do. Like, the whole reason I started doing that was in case this would happen. Someone goes, “Hey, man, you gotta wait two years to put out that album.” I put out my albums when I fucking want to put them out, and I record them when I want to record them. And last year, I wanted to make a new record, and a couple of people said, “Well, you just made one.” And I said, “Nobody fucking asked you,” so I made one, and I said I wanted to put it out.
ED: And you wanted to do a rock record.
Walker: Yeah, exactly. And, obviously, I know musicians in Nashville, and their label guys stop by their studio and check on their songs. So, I’m in the studio, and everyone’s all shocked, because they’re like, “Is no one stopping by?” Nope, nobody checks me. You’re talking to the president of the label right here, man. This is it. I was like, “If you want notes, I’ll give them to you. But that fucking rock will go on the record. Next song.”
But anyway, I think the way of saying it is, I don’t look at trends. Actually, what you just said reminded me of something real funny, which is, I was having dinner with some buddies the other day, and they were talking about how hot country music is right now. It’s ‘On streaming,’ and all that. And they’re like, “So why did you make a rock record right when country music got hot?” And I’m like, “Because I don’t pay attention to that shit and when you don’t pay attention to that shit sometimes, maybe I missed the boat. I don’t fucking know. But I also get lucky at times you guys don’t get lucky, so I just don’t know.” I don’t follow any trends, so maybe I missed out on a fucking train. I could give two shits. I made an album I wanted to make.
ED: Okay, I think you’ve pretty much already answered this next question, but I’m gonna ask it in case there’s anything you want to add to it.
You’ve also mentioned that country music is too ‘safe’ now, and that’ it’s rebellious nature is gone. But rock is still not afraid to say ‘fuck the man’ and it keeps that rebellious spirit. What is it about rock that keeps it on the outside enough that it can still be dangerous?
Walker: Well, I know it’s gonna sound like too simple of an answer, but I think that part of it is they left the loudness. I think it’s hard to be too safe when you’re that fucking loud, you know? Like, there’s no there’s no way Guns N’ Roses could be that safe. What’s a safe Guns N’ Roses song? It doesn’t exist when you’re playing that loud and you’re screaming that hard and the drums are that loud. I like Skynyrd. I like AC/DC. I like shit that moves you, that makes you move. Waylon was the killer of having that groove there, and I’m not hearing it much anymore. Country music is always so behind the trends. The beats I’m hearing in country music are just kind of like shitty 80s Milli Vanilli beats, you know? And I just like to fucking rock. And, back to strip clubs, I like that strip club beat. The one I always think about is “Girls, Girls, Girls,” or, what’s the one off Dr. Feelgood?
ED: Kickstart My Heart?
Walker: Kickstart My Heart, yeah, like that. I like those big Tommy Lee drums. You know that sound? It don’t fit with fucking country, so I gotta do something else.
ED: You did an interview for StripJointsMusic back in 2016 when you referenced betting on yourself and putting everything you had into recording that first album. You’ve also mentioned that you’re doing that again with ‘Ram.’ What is it about this moment in time that made you say, ‘I don’t want to play it safe, I want to shift gears and rock out with this one’?
Walker: Well, I think part of being an independent artist — it’s what’s so fun and what’s so hard about it — is every album is like going to the craps table. Every album, you’re going, ‘It’s all on red. It’s all on black.” I’m not trying to have a massive edge. All I’m trying to do is make enough money to make the next record. That’s all I really care about is making my money back, so I can keep making music.
ED: You’ve always written songs that would fit perfectly in a strip club (in other words, if you’re a strip club DJ and you’re not checking out Wheeler Walker Jr. then what’s wrong with you?!). According to your PR, there’s also a song on this album called “Sniffer’s Row” about guys who sit in the front row of a strip club. Can you tell us a bit more about that song? What inspired it and what are your thoughts on guys who sit right at the stage at the strip club?
Walker: Well, a lot of my song ideas I get from friends of mine, and a buddy of mine was talking about his night out and he said he was sitting on ‘Sniffer’s Row.’ And I didn’t know what he was talking about. He told me what it was, and I was like, “Oh shit, I gotta write a song about that.” I usually sit in the front row anyway. I didn’t know it had a name. So the next time I went to the strip club, I sat on Sniffer’s Row, and I was sitting there bobbing my head to it, because ever since he said that, I couldn’t get it out of my head. And if I hadn’t heard of it, I figured maybe the rest of people hadn’t heard of it, and that this could be the Sniffer’s Row anthem? Front rows all across the country will be humming this, maybe?
“Well, a lot of my song ideas I get from friends of mine, and a buddy of mine was talking about his night out and he said he was sitting on ‘Sniffer’s Row.’ And I didn’t know what he was talking about. He told me what it was, and I was like, “Oh shit, I gotta write a song about that.” I usually sit in the front row anyway. I didn’t know it had a name. So the next time I went to the strip club, I sat on Sniffer’s Row, and I was sitting there bobbing my head to it, because ever since he said that, I couldn’t get it out of my head.”
ED: Another term for it has always been the ‘Erection Section.’ That might be your next song. We can give you all kinds of cheesy lines for music.
Walker: It could be a section of the audience, too.
ED: What’s next in 2023 and 2024 for Wheeler Walker? Are you lining up a tour, and if so, how will you mix up the set list between the newer ‘rock’ songs and your back catalog?
Walker: Well, I’m on tour as we speak, and I’m playing shows, and I gotta be honest: for my country stuff, I’ve always had a pretty big band. We’ve always played pretty heavy, so the songs meld together pretty well. They’re all pretty rockin’, even my harder country stuff. To me, the good country and rock was always a fine line. You know, like, back in the old Sun Records days, why was Elvis rock and Johnny Cash was country? I never quite understood it. To me, they’re very similar. I’m not comparing myself to either one of those artists, but it all fits together perfectly, especially when you play it live.
Also check out Wheeler Walker’s PANDA OFF THE CHARTS interview right here!
