Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 28, 1995 TAG: 9507280008
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JIM PATTERSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NASHVILLE, TENN. LENGTH: Medium
The album ``Angry Southern Gentleman'' is the result of Terrell's career move. It is an uneasy package of good ole boy bluster and intellectual guilt.
The album paints a bluesy landscape where ``a good, good man'' might rob a liquor store to finance a fresh start, and fancy himself Satan incarnate. It's a place where a half-crazed drunken yokel might scour town looking for ``a crazy bitch, that ain't afraid of a hickory switch.''
``Hey mama,'' Terrell screams in a self-parodying drawl in the song ``Redneck Gigolo,'' - ``How 'bout chyou!?''
``I think all Southerners have redneck in 'em that comes out when they drink,'' the 34-year-old single-name singer said in a telephone interview from New York. ``I mean, that song's supposed to be funny - it's funny and scary at the same time.''
The Albertville, Ala., native is quick to deny any intention to make a grand statement about the South - but peek inside the ``Angry Southern Gentleman'' packaging and you'll discover the lyrics carefully written out, numbered line by line like Bible verses.
``That's just my pretentiousness,'' Terrell says. ``I'm just a frustrated novelist and ... that's just my own personal thing and it really doesn't mean anything.''
From the title song:
``Angry Southern gentleman left his Southern dirt.
Brushed it from his auburn hair and his Sunday shirt.
Left behind his Bible and the wrought iron gate.
Left behind the sugar bowl and his Southern hate.''
Allen Terrell honed down his name to one word as he struggled for over a decade to gain the attention of music executives in Nashville and Los Angeles. By 1990, he seemed at the brink of stardom. He was one of the first signings to Irving Azoff's Giant Records and shared a manager with Sting, Miles Copeland.
The Giant record ``On the Wings of Dirty Angels'' got a little critical attention but bombed. But that was only one of Terrell's problems. He also lost $80,000 worth of equipment to thieves in Dallas. Then his main booster at Giant was dying from AIDs, and his best friend and musical partner was hooked on heroin and his band subsequently split. His personal life was just as much a shambles - his fiance broke up with him and kicked him out of her home.
Giant and Copeland were gone as quickly as they had signed on, and Terrell now records for Pointblank Records.
``Just as fate will deal you a lot of good hands, and all of the sudden you're on the cover of Rolling Stone and you don't know why,'' Terrell said, ``you know it can take you down really just as fast.''
Although Terrell hasn't been a cover story in Rolling Stone, he says, ``I'm only assuming 'cause I've been in the antithesis of that.''
But Terrell kept on writing, depending on ``the kindness of women'' to get him by and living with various friends, sleeping on the sofas in their living rooms.
He wrote about the confusion he had concerning his own nature. Such well-detailed character studies as ``Dreamed I Was the Devil,'' ``New Hope'' and ``Redneck Gigolo'' resulted, as did more overtly personal fare like ``Angry Southern Gentleman'' and ``Come Down to Me.''
Terrell strays from the Southern theme in the word-dizzy ``Toystore,'' which imagines famous people as children and pairs them with likely toys. In the song, Adolf Hitler bypasses toy soldiers for perfect Barbie and Ken dolls. Rodin favors Play-Doh, and Dali has an ant farm.
``I saw Houdini playing Twister with Ayn Rand and Frank Lloyd Wright,'' the song continues.
But the tunes likely to garner the most attention back home in Alabama are Southern-themed. So far, ``Angry Southern Gentleman'' promotion and performances have concentrated on the coasts and Europe, where the band is opening some shows for the Black Crowes.
A little leery of the reception back home, perhaps? ``Wow, I've never even thought about that,'' Terrell said. ``I mean I wouldn't worry about it.''
``As long as I got a reaction or they thought about it, it would make me feel good that maybe they could relate to it, make them feel something.''
by CNB