The Two Sides of Gretchen Wilson

The story of Gretchen Wilson's rise to country music superstardom reads like a rags-to-riches fairy tale. Born to a teenage mom in Pocahontas, Ill., Gretchen spent her early years in transient poverty. Her dad bailed when she was two, while her mom traveled with her from one trailer park to another. Gretchen, who only has an 8th-grade education, says she began work as a bartender at 14. By 15, she managed the roadhouse and sang for tips—not to mention packing a shotgun behind the bar ... just in case.

A few years later, Gretchen headed to Nashville, where her barroom singing drew the attention of country stars Big Kenny and John Rich. The result: Gretchen Wilson's 2004 debut, Here for the Party, sold 4 million copies and garnered a Grammy. Now, her sophomore effort, All Jacked Up, picks up where Party left off, exalting both the negatives of her self-described redneck lifestyle and the positives of her down-home family values.

Barroom Vices
The album's rollicking title track brags, "I'm all jacked up/ ... Don't believe I've ever had this much." Thus, Gretchen sings the praises of alcohol ("Shots a flowin', got me stoned"), swearing a bit along the way ("What the h---, I'll have one more shot/ ... Oh my god, it's two o'clock"). When she can't find her keys, she's forced to break into her truck, whereupon she promptly backs into a telephone pole. In a belated moment of self-awareness, she suggests, "Don't drive your truck when you're all jacked up." Good advice ... not taken.

"One Bud Wiser" likewise romanticizes alcohol's anaesthetizing prowess: "Well I'm one Bud wiser than I was a minute ago/Found an equalizer that makes his memory a no show." She goes so far as to describe the inebriating effects of beer as healing ("And as I drank it down/I felt the healing start"). If this isn't a well-lit path to alcoholism, I haven't seen one recently.

Next up: nicotine. "Skoal Ring" spotlights tobacco-chewing men. Gretchen sings, "The only thing I really need/Is a man with a Skoal ring." What's a Skoal ring, you ask? Skoal, a popular brand of chewing tobacco sold in round aluminum containers, leaves a telltale ring in a back pocket. And until recently, Ms. Wilson held up a can during her shows. But Tennessee's attorney general sent her a letter asking her to stop promoting tobacco so explicitly. About her own use, Gretchen says, "I started dipping to quit smoking. I traded one evil for another. To be honest, I've realized now that quitting smoking was easier than quitting dipping. But I will eventually be free of nicotine, I know it." So why such a dreadful display of affection here?

Down-Home Virtues
Just when you're convinced Gretchen isn't someone you'd bring home to Mamma, she suddenly changes her tune. "Full Time Job" salutes stay-at-home moms: "I'm a mother, I'm a lover/A chef, a referee/I'm a doctor and a chauffeur/Seven days a week/ ... I know this may come as a shock/But this here's a full-time job." "Politically Uncorrect" champions patriotism, hard work, faithful parenting, prayer and the Bible with lyrics that include the lines, "I'm for the farmer with dirt on his hands/And the soldiers who fight for this land/And I'm for the Bible, and I'm for the flag."

"Rebel Child" comes from the perspective of a wise soul counseling a wild youngster. Biblical language describes the cause-and-effect relationship between our choices now and our future ("Just remember that you'll have to reap/All the seeds you sow"). She advises further, "Keep your feet on the ground/And one eye on heaven/Do a lot of forgivin'/But not much forgettin'/And remember, life's one big lesson."

A Jacked Up Party
Gretchen Wilson's tell-it-like-it-is sensibility has won her legions of admirers. Unfortunately, that attitude also comes saddled with a common form of country music schizophrenia: glorifying hard livin' one minute while saluting the flag, God and hard work the next. Which message are we supposed to listen to? The one that encourages responsibility or the one that glorifies inebriation? Does Gretchen really think the two themes are compatible?

"Rebel Child" hints that Gretchen has perhaps learned some tough lessons about life in the fast lane. I wish that the older, wiser Wilson would have had a word with her reckless, party-hearty self before unleashing All Jacked Up on her fans—many of whom will no doubt feel "empowered" to imitate her wild ways.