Wheeler Walker Jr.
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Wheeler Walker, Jr. is the alter-ego of comedian Ben Hoffman. As a country music singer-songwriter, his debut album Redneck Shit, produced by Dave Cobb (Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell) was released February 12, 2016. It debuted at #9 on the Billboard Country Charts, #1 on the Billboard Comedy Charts and #127 on The Billboard 200. It was the first album to debut in both the top ten of the comedy and country charts for a decade.
Many are calling it the dirtiest country album of all time. It is the first album on the Billboard Country Charts with an expletive in the title.
Rolling Stone called it "Unfathomably obscene and undeniably offensive, the debut album from Nashville never-was Wheeler Walker Jr. is also goddamn funny. But Redneck Shit is far from just an X-rated novelty record."[1]
Early life and career
Wheeler was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, where his father Wheeler Walker, Sr. worked in the coal industry.
Wheeler dropped out of high school and moved to Nashville in 1998. He signed with Mercury/Nashville in 2000, but due to his insistence on using R-rated language, the album was shelved and has never been released.
He later signed to Capitol/Nashville, but again, the label refused to release the album and it too remains unavailable.
Walker gigged consistently throughout the decade. Singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver has often referred to him as the "best songwriter in Nashville" despite not having any official releases.
While Walker's peers, including Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton and Keith Urban have gone on to greater success, Wheeler has refused to censor his music and has reportedly had fallings out with all three of these musicians.
In 2015, Wheeler finally hit the studio with Dave Cobb with plans to self-release his first official album. It eventually found distribution with Nashville's Thirty Tigers.
Walker has an ex-wife (Ellie) and son Wheeler Walker, III ("Trey") – Ellie is said to have briefly dated Brad Paisley during their divorce, although Paisley has repeatedly denied this.
Walker's music has gained significant airplay on Sirius XM Outlaw Country radio, where DJ Mojo Nixon stated, "When genius arrives, it must be heard."
Redneck Shit was released February 12, 2016 via Thirty Tigers/Pepper Hill Records. The album originally premiered via stream on the pornographic website PornHub.
References
- ↑ "Wheeler Walker Jr. - 35 Most Anticipated Country Albums of 2016". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 14 June 2016.