Michael O’Neill’s latest CD, “Who’s Bad Now” is a collection of songs a long time in the making. Not due to a tedious, protracted recording process,  oh no. The music presented here, as with any great gumbo, couldn’t have been made without the carefully cultivated seasonings and spices of a life that’s been lived to the fullest, music that’s been made not just by living a long life, but by living the width and the breadth of it as well.

Michael’s songs are born from these experiences, exploring the parameters of his muse, testing the limits, like driving cross country with the top down, pedal to the metal, or walking along a river barefooted, mud squishing between your toes; not a care in the world yet a clarity suffused from someone who’s seen  a thing or three and has lived to tell about it, and is far from done!

On “Who’s Bad Now” you’ll hear rock influences culled from Michael’s days spent in Los Angeles where he ripped it up with the best of them, seamlessly mixed with clear, unvarnished country born from Michael’s love of the land and his Earthly pursuit of a simpler time and place; American music, born and bred. From the soulful strut of the title track, “Who’s Bad Now”, to the kick up your heels and throw caution to the wind of “Chance”, to the playfulness of the Lowell George classic, “Dixie Chicken”, to the plaintively honest and introspective “Better”, there is something here for anyone who loves music, music that emerges raw from the heart and the soul.

Prepare to get muddy. Prepare to feel the sting of the wind. Dive in, let the current spirit you away. Michael O’Neill’s new CD, “Who’s Bad Now”, is a testament to a life lived, a recording seeped in the great traditions, done to a turn. A music whose time has come.

Track info

Who’s Bad Now (4:06) A sassy, funky strut, very tongue in cheek, a big grin

Chance (3:04) Devil may care flight of fancy, a country stomp that asks “why not?” instead of “why?”

Cowboy Ride (4:51) Slow burn country that takes a gritty look at the rodeo cowboy’s life, could be the Chris Ledoux biography

I Don’t Remember (4:19) Done in the classic Hank Williams tradition, surviving the hard life, a woman provides love as redemption

Austin (4:31) Both barrels blazing while burning rubber down a two lane asphalt road, living it up music

Dixie Chicken (4:42) Simple, unadorned, loose and free version of the Lowell George classic

96 Tears (3:59) A spirited romp about love lost, a nod to Don Williams and Reckless Kelly

Run to the Sea (3:22) In classic waltz time, a simple ode to the testament of love and the strength it brings

Better (3:40) Tender and honest, an introspective look at what makes the man

Who’s Bad Now ( 3:55) A raw, unplugged version of the first song.