The easiest way to take the sting out of a song that enthusiastically endorses vigilante justice is to turn the tune into a feature-length comedy with the help of a comedian responsible for
Morning Wood. At least that's the road
Toby Keith followed when he adapted Beer for My Horses into a film, hiring
Rodney Carrington as his collaborator and co-star. It shouldn't be a surprise that both
Toby and
Rodney show up on the soundtrack -- the former with the title song and the rip-roaring
Mica Roberts duet "Let's Get Trashed," the latter with his tender ballad "Show Them to Me" -- but so do their other co-stars:
David Allan Coe sings "If That Ain't Country (Part 2),"
Gina Gershon turns in some sultry spaghetti western claptrap called "La Di Da," and
Ted Nugent gets two of his classic rock standards, "Cat Scratch Fever" and "Stranglehold," onto the collection (sadly, Claire Forlani did not seize this opportunity to cut a
Miranda Lambert tribute). Add the
Trailer Choir's
Big & Rich wannabe "Off the Hillbilly Hook," that's more than half the soundtrack, but of more interest is the middle of the record, where
James McMurtry sprawls out for eight minutes on the randy "Choctaw Bingo,"
Mac Davis dips into a Tex-Mex two-step on "No Mas Cerveza,"
Mel Tillis has a nice "Burning Memories," and
Carter's Chord has a sweet, slow "Song of Blue." This gives the album a core that almost prevents it from being quite as crass and corny as the movie. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine