ALBUM REVIEW

Hank Woji
THERE WAS A TIME
©2010 K Z Records
KZR004
Review by Lucky Boyd
Co-Founder, MyTexasMusic.com

Hank Woji has put together excellent albums in the past, but this is the one he was destined to make, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.  Woji has experienced a good deal of change in his life in the year leading up to this release.  One of the benefits of undergoing change is that sometimes it strips away facades that we might have been carrying with us in our travels.  With this project, Woji has been able to return to his roots and his love for lyric-based songs arranged the way he wants.  It’s no surprise that you’ll find Woji performing every stitch of this disc, and that’s every instrument; every note.  Woji knows that doing things this way means there’s no one else to blame when something is not as intended.  With that mindset, Woji has harnessed the soul of each cut and performed the songs just as the muse had delivered them.  You’ll find songs of reflection, story songs, and tunes all about Hank.  If you know Hank, you know he couldn’t resist a current events tune.  Fate delivered a subject whose name, even when used in the song, removes it from the current events list and makes it timeless.  Woji has finally become connected with his inner folk rebel, delivering a performance equally as powerful as the most recent attempts by names like Hubbard, Shaver, and Nelson.  There’s an element of commercial viability on several of the tracks that should attract Texas radio, a departure from Woji’s more personal or political offerings of the past.  Woji should enjoy some respectable chart movement if radio will give a listen.  Less themed than Woji’s previous releases, this disc is more apt to garner support of a wide Texas audience, making Woji a force to be reckoned with in Texas music.

Produced by Hank Woji, engineering: Ted Arbogast, Jacob Meador, mastered by Haniel Trisna and Woji; graphic design by Sue Gaines; Eleven tracks; seven penned by Woji (Thundering Waves Music, ASCAP); four covers: 2 traditional, one by Townes Van Zandt, one by Woodie Guthrie; Four-color board pack, liner notes; replicated; running time: approx. 38 minutes