James Robert Webb’s Weekend Outlaw Is the Soundtrack to Your Friday Night Identity Crisis
Review by Someone Who Didn’t Expect to Enjoy This and Now Feels Emotionally Compromised
You know those country songs that are basically just a guy screaming “FRIIIIIDAY” over a fiddle while a truck does donuts in the background? James Robert Webb’s Weekend Outlaw is… not that. I mean, yes — there are trucks. Yes, there’s a honky tonk. Yes, someone references Jesse James within the first sixty seconds. But here’s the thing: it’s also kind of great?
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/jamesrobertwebb/
Webb is a musculoskeletal radiologist by day (yes, really) and country outlaw by night, which makes him some kind of Clark Kent for beer-slinging weekend warriors. Weekend Outlaw is the kind of record that makes you want to quit your job, grow a mustache, and start saying “partner” to strangers — even if you live in a Brooklyn studio apartment and your idea of rebellion is ordering oat milk.
The title track kicks things off like a boot to the teeth. “I’ll be living like a weekend outlaw,” Webb sings, and you think, “Wow, same — I also bought a scented candle and stayed up until midnight on a Friday once.” But there’s something contagious in the delivery. It’s big, it’s loud, and it makes you want to run from responsibility with nothing but a cowboy hat and your Spotify premium subscription.
Track two, “Gentlemen Start Your Weekends,” is what would happen if NASCAR and a fireworks store wrote a song together. It’s unapologetically bro-y, yet somehow sincere — like a motivational speech from your rowdiest friend. Bonus points for the rap verse by Classic Williams, which shouldn’t work, and yet here I am, googling “country rap collaborations that don’t suck.”
“Ride or Die” is where things start to feel like you’ve accidentally developed emotions. It’s still upbeat, but you can tell Webb means it. There’s a motorcycle involved. There’s commitment. You feel things. You hate that you feel things.
Then “Lovesick Drifting Cowboy” comes in, and suddenly you’re in a dust-swept Western where heartbreak is mandatory and everyone looks better in sepia tone. The lyrics are dramatic in the best way, full of gallows references and mama regrets. It’s outlaw cosplay, but it slaps.
By the time you hit the back half — especially the dreamy “Buenos Noches Nagadoches” (which I’m still not sure how to pronounce, thanks) and the crushingly sweet “She’s Not You” — you’re no longer listening ironically. You’ve been converted. You’re emotionally invested. You’re wondering if James Robert Webb offers therapy sessions between surgeries and songwriting.
“Local Participatin’ Honky Tonk,” feels earned. The man wrote an entire banger based on promotional small print. That’s commitment. That’s genius. That’s an outlaw marketing strategy.
Final verdict: Weekend Outlaw is a little bit nostalgic, and a lot more enjoyable than I ever expected. James Robert Webb doesn’t just sing about breaking out of your day job rut — he lives it. And for 43 minutes, he makes you believe you can too.
Kim Muncie
