On February 17th, AJ Hobbs released his new album, Too Much Is Never Enough. Produced by Ted Russell Kamp, the twelve-track project brings honest and intimately personal storytelling and melds it with a soulful sound inspired by Texas country, R&B, and gospel…..and an authentic outlaw spirit.
Hobbs bursts out of the gate with the rousing, foot-stomping opener “Too Much Is Never Enough” before rolling into the honky-tonk ready “Life Without You” and “The Loser” about a man who ditches the day job for the road. “I nearly lost the will to live just working that 9-5/Now the only thing that I can’t lose is the feeling of being free.”
Hobbs is equally adept at movers and shakers (“Daddy Loved The Lord”) and songs with swagger (“Shit Just Got Real”) as well as slow burners such as “Eastside,” a soulful, emotional ballad (recalling The Band) where he implores one to “Take a long ride to the Eastside honey and lay all your troubles down on me,” and “A Whole Lot of You and Me,” a delightful romantic shuffler.
Too Much Is Never Enough is rounded out with the flirty mid-tempo duet “Take It Slow” which features Dominique Pruitt sharing a wink and a nod, “Don’t think so fast I’d like to take it slow…..We’ll just lay low til everybody clears out of the barroom/And then we’ll take it slow as far as they all know/The quicker we get out of here the slower we can go”; a horn infused take on the classic “The Bottle Let Me Down” and “Tomorrow I’ll Be Hurtin’” which tells of the often lonely, costly life on the road. “Sometimes it feels like heaven, most days I’m going to hell/All you want is water but there’s nothing in the well/So help me if you can put something in my jar/Tomorrow I’ll be hurting tonight I’ll be a star.”
Hobbs delivers an album that is lyrically and sonically compelling; all the while being unabashedly honest in conveying a man’s weaknesses and strengths in a manner that is sincere, immediate, and relatable. Even though it’s early on in 2017, Too Much Is Never Enough is an early sure thing that will undoubtedly be found on many a best of year end lists. Stream the album in its entirety below.
