Formerly Johnny Corndawg who brought us Down On The Bikini Line an album that some thought was a send-up but Dad Country shows that Mr Fritz was in fact pointing us in the direction of the kind of old-school country that many a Dad would understand. Often that music had a cornball charm but it also had a pathos and true-to-life setting that reflected the lives of the people who listened to that music.
Things change though and those who have the final say have decided that country music now is perhaps more about something completely different. The life experiences of privileged teenagers perhaps?
Johnny Fritz however address such concerns as Have You Ever WantedDie?, Wrong Crowd, Suck In Your Gut or Trash Day - about forgetting to take the trash out. These Fritz written songs have a degree of humour inherent in their make-up but don't write a song about wanted to die without considering the darker side of life and living. Some like Holy Water are more wanting and wanton.
His concerns also look at society's inextricable layers and cliques on Wrong Crowd or Social Climbers. That all these songs are delivered in Fritz's slightly nasal country voice and backed by his on-form band make them sound good and bar-room ready. Taylor Goldsmith, who co-produced the album with Fritz, plays some fine guitar as does Spenser Cullum, Jr on pedal steel and Joshua Hedley adds fiddle to the tracks recorded in Nashville. The remaining tracks were recorded in California and overall they marry together well.