In “Right Back Where I Started,” the opening track of Boots Up: The Best of the Warner E. Hodges Band So Far, Hodges sings, “Ratz in the cellar / Electric Boys onstage.” It’s a reference to a double bill in the late ’70s at Phrank ’n’ Steins Rathskeller, ground zero for Nashville’s burgeoning punk rock community. Hodges was the guitarist for The Electric Boys, who would soon team up with singer Jason Ringenberg, change their name to The Scorchers, and ignite the local rock scene.
Hodges’ work with Jason and the Scorchers is now legendary, and the recordings he has made outside that band with The Bluefields and Dan Baird and Homemade Sin have only added to his legacy. Boots Up illuminates another part of Hodges’ long career: the albums he has made under his own name.
“I’m a guy that’s always looking to the future,” Hodges says. “So it’s really hard to go back and listen to older stuff — ‘Oh, I should have done this, I should have done that,’ and it makes it very difficult to just listen to it and enjoy it.
“But I’m pretty pleased with [Boots Up], because 11 of the 12 ‘best of’ selections have been remixed or remastered, and they all sound quite a bit better. It was nice to hear those songs with a fresh mix and a fresh mastering.”
The two-disc set was released in the U.K. and Europe late last year, but will be made available via record stores in the U.S. for the first time on Sept. 9 and to the major streaming services on Oct. 28. To celebrate the stateside release, Hodges will perform at Eastside Bowl on Sept. 15.
The collection features 18 tracks in all, including the aforementioned dozen from Hodges’ four studio albums: Centerline (2008), Gunslinger (2014), Right Back Where I Started (2017) and Just Feels Right (2020). The other six sides have never before been released, including studio-recorded covers of “Polk Salad Annie” by Tony Joe White, “Good Hearted Woman” by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, “Set Me Free” by Sweet and a mashup of the Sex Pistols’ “Holiday in the Sun” with George Jones’ “White Lightning.”
Boots Up has an abundance of what anyone familiar with Hodges’ long career would expect: monster riffs, hot licks and plenty of rock ’n’ roll swagger. But the collection also reveals the cow-punk pioneer to be so much more than a six-string wizard. Hodges has a strong voice and is more than capable as a lead vocalist. In addition, the set showcases the informal songwriting team he is part of that includes Baird and Joe Blanton, his bandmates in The Bluefields. Baird and Blanton are co-producers on much of the material included, and Blanton handled the remixing and remastering of the tracks for the compilation.
“The way we work, it’s literally like, ‘This is The Bluefields pile, this is the Dan Baird and Homemade Sin pile, this is the Warner pile,’ ” he explains.
Boots Up also reveals that Hodges’ musical range extends beyond the roots rock he’s best known for. The majestic “Never Alone” from Right Back Where I Started is a good example of this.
“Dan Baird and Homemade Sin were down in Australia, and we had, like, four off days in a row,” Hodges says, remembering when he wrote the song. “It was pouring down rain that day, I was missing my wife, and I ended up writing that song. When I got back home, Dan read through the song, read through it again, and maybe changed one little word or something. He looked at me and went, ‘Wow, dude, you’ve actually written a real song here. It’s not about going to the bar or your wife dancing or anything.’ And I was actually really proud because normally, you know, I’m a guitar player, not a lyric guy.”
Of the 14 originals in the collection, Hodges co-wrote 10 with either Baird or Blanton or both. Baird and Blanton co-wrote one of the songs, and the other three cuts were written solely by Blanton.
“You know, going back and listening to that stuff was fantastic, ’cause you don’t sit at home listening to yourself,” Hodges says with a laugh. “But I put those records on and go, ‘Whoa! Good Lord, that was good.’ ”
Almost all of his live work is across the pond, including an October tour, which follows up a seven-week U.K.-Europe trek earlier this year. Fittingly, the other current members of The Warner E. Hodges Band — drummer John Powney, bassist Jason Knight and guitarist Ben Marsden — are based in England. The three tracks included from Just Feels Right and the six new tracks included on Boots Up feature Hodges’ U.K. bandmates.
“All three guys are monster talents,” Hodges says. “They’re really great.”
Unfortunately, because they don’t have work visas for the U.S., that group isn’t able to join him for the upcoming show. Don’t think of the band he’s put together as a consolation prize, though: He’ll be accompanied by Blanton on guitar and vocals, former Homemade Sin bandmate Sean Savacool on bass and Bluefields bandmate Brad Pemberton on drums.
“We’re going to do, like, seven or eight Bluefields songs,” Hodges says, “so I’ll sing about half the songs, and Joe will sing about half the songs.”
