Grammy-nominated, Nashville-based singer-songwriter and avowed rebel Will Hoge goes all in, writing, producing, and playing all instruments on his fourteenth album, the mostly autobiographical Tenderhearted Boys. Hoge immediately immerses us in his emotional world with “Deadbolt,” strumming and singing with immense emotion about a significant other that somehow provides comfort to one whose emotions threaten to explode in several directions. The piano-driven “End of the World” is told from the perspective of a teenager trying to grapple with sensory overload – cars, school, girlfriends, and mostly the nonsensical societal world he’s been thrust into, ultimately seeking refuge with his girlfriend. Hoge cobbles together more than a few cliches’ in the simple cynical ditty “Some People” rendered with acoustic guitar and harmonica-in-the-rack. He starts out making observations but ends shaking his proverbial head – “Some people say all is well that ends well /Some people never must have really been through hell.”
Hoge has long stamped his reputation as an irreverent, unapologetic type that resists even the slightest notion of sugarcoating much of anything. He’s earned his hard-won independence, shunning major label deals, and marching forth in his own unfiltered way. To that extent, nothing here comes as a surprise, but the attraction is not just with his relatable vulnerable, and oft rebellious observations, but the construction of his lyrics. He shows some clever wordplay in the tender love song “I’d Be Lying,” first stating that he’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about you and ending with “Yeah I’m lying here just thinking about you.”’
He’s a champion of the working class and underserved as exemplified in “Accountable” which he ends by saying we all have a role in lifting the downtrodden. The linchpin track is the blue-collar tale of life in a small town in the deeply poignant “My Daddy’s Eyes” as the protagonist follows in the footsteps of his father and grandfather working in the local power plant, trying desperately to make ends meet. From the opening “light in his father’s eyes” to his father’s passing to his role as a father raising young children, Hoge has us on the edge of our seats with the lyrics of each transitioning generation.
The self-deprecating “You Love Me Anyway” is a perky guitar-driven expose of the musician’s life on the road, gracious for the acceptance of his partner who’s willing to put up with his faults and idiosyncrasies. On the surface, it may seem a bit contrived, but his phrasing alone makes it authentic. “Good While It Lasted” comes from a similar angle, though this time it mourns the loss of youthful naivete and the rocky road of relationships. Again, clever wordplay colors the chorus, “It was good while it lasted but it didn’t last too long.”
We get the requisite, rambunctious, chugging rock n roll in “I Got It,” with Hoge singing the praises of his ’59 Cadillac. It’s one of the only moments the album diverges from slow or mid-tempo ballads. Another couple of rockers would have better balanced the album in terms of tempo. True to form, he closes with a ballad pean to his sons in the title track, “Forever Young” style, passing down advice, telling them to not “let those bastards change your hearts for nothing” and pleading them to remain tenderhearted boys no matter what.
Previous albums had Hoge so full of vitriol, that they didn’t lend themselves to many repeat listens. This one does. Raw, plainspoken, weighty, and memorable, Hoge finds that fine balance between strong and vulnerable.
