Jim Mitchell (from the album Repeat Offender

Jim Mitchell (from the album Repeat Offender

Jim Mitchell (from the album Repeat Offender, an independent release) (by Lee Zimmerman)
 
Jim Mitchell takes no prisoners. Well, at least not as far as his songs are concerned. On this, his fourth album to date, Jim Mitchell vets his frustrations and lets loose with a series of antagonistic diatribes that leave little to the imagination. It’s obviously autobiographical, a series of songs that detail his run-ins with women, legalities and life’s lingering difficulties.
 
By his own admission, Jim Mitchell was literally born on the wrong side of the tracks, which found  him living a hardscrabble existence imposed on him by a renegade father who allowed him to drink, smoke, and ingest pain pills well before he reached his teens. Not surprisingly, those struggles are reflected in these songs, with opening track “Why You Rockin’ Me” — a determined diatribe against a woman who’s effectively egging him on — setting the tenacious tone for the album overall.
 
It doesn’t let up from there. Jim Mitchell comes across as if he’s the middle man in a showdown between Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Billy Joe Shaver, one given to an edgy, antagonistic sound fueled by petulance and persistence. A sturdy, unshakable streak of defiance is implicit in practically every song, and when he offers an homage to the man who made darkness and desire mutually compatible on the tellingly-titled “Just Like Ole Hank,” it’s clear he’s intent on following in Williams’ tattered footsteps.
 
Fortunately, though, that desperation and despair is channeled to good effect. While there seems to be no end to Jim Mitchell’s anger and ferocity, ultimately he comes across as a man whose real intent is to rock and rock relentlessly. The final two tracks on the album — the descriptively dubbed “Hell or High Water” and a credible cover of Bob Dylan’s “Seven Days” — end the proceedings on a high note, being that they’re among the album’s most compelling and convincing offerings overall. Mitchell’s band — Jack Stanton (pedal steel, dobro and vocals), Ray Roller (electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, and vocals), Tony Foica and Troy McAllister (bass), and Steve Campbell (drums and percussion) — do their part to maintain the momentum throughout while complementing Marshall’s grit and gravitas as well.
 
Ultimately then, Repeat Offender comes across as a well-paced effort that qualifies him for good standing within the Outlaw Country continuum. For all the anger Jim Mitchell’s eager to express, there’s no denying his passion is well placed. (by Lee Zimmerman)
 
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