Reverend Horton Heat return to Tempe for a new show, old stories

Over the course of four decades as Reverend Horton Heat, Jim Heath has built an especially robust fan base. Credit his sheer talent and artistic curiosity, sure. But mostly, Heath plays a prolific number of live shows. Reverend Horton Heat has amassed a preposterous 5,500 concerts. Some 40 of those have been at Valley venues and concert halls, with 16 alone at Marquee Theatre.

“It truly is a valid art form [playing live music],” Heath says. “To me, it’s more of a valid art form than recording because recording…it’s like technology that has come along and enables the mass dissemination of music.”

Heath made his name on a devilish, possessed shredding style that has expanded the very definitions of rockabilly and punk. Heath has swaggered through rock 'n' roll history with the '50s-style cool of Eddie Cochran, the raspy howl of Tom Waits and the guitar virtuosity of Dave Alvin or Brian Setzer. Elvis is dead. Heath is the king.

You can't deny the end results from a man admirers have dubbed the Godfather of Psychobilly. Across a dozen or so classic albums — most recently the 2023 covers album "Roots of the Rev (Volume One)" — Heath has continually upgraded and extended his retro rock sounds for new fans to discover.

Reverend Horton Heat’s songs continue to evolve as he explores influences ranging from Carl Perkins to Ronnie Dawson to Willie Nelson. So whether it’s “Wiggle Stick," "Psychobilly Freakout” or “Jimbo’s Theme,” among many others, these crowd favorites make his brand of explosive rockabilly surprisingly nuanced.

Heath, of course, has never been alone across this extended, hard-living musical journey. Longtime best buddy and stand-up bass player Jimbo Wallace has always anchored the group. And while Heath has gone through some drummers in his time, Jonathan Jeter has held that chair since 2020.

Most beguilingly, even as Heath approaches his late 60s, the band’s tour schedule has only expanded. At this rate Heath could wind up playing his own funeral.

“It’s been kind of lucrative for us to extend the tour,” says Heath. “When the kids were going strong, we never went out for more than a month, four weeks. Now we’re extending it by five, six weeks. It’s a dream come true. I still am grateful every day I get to this for a living.”
Long before his sound became known from shore to shore, Heath worked mundane jobs to get by. He spent time as a mover, worked various office jobs, toiled in a shipping room and even manned a photo processing lab.

“I found out in high school that all the hot girls and most of the cheerleaders all took typing, so they could all be secretaries, I guess,” says Heath. “It was the ‘70s. So I decided I was going to take typing. I was a musician, and I was in between bands, and I found out you could go to Manpower and get a job temporarily. I still wanted to play music.”

Heath became a world-class typist — fitting for a guy whose freakish dexterity makes him a demon with a Gretsch in hand. But those were humble beginnings for a rock god. In the early days, the band didn't even seem worth its own name. Per a legend, Russell Hobbs, the owner of several venues in Dallas's Deep Elum neighborhood, gave Heath his red-hot moniker after seeing Heath shred Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.”

“When I started Reverend Horton Heat, I didn’t really name the band,” says Heath. “I was writing my own songs, doing a little solo thing with my guitar, and all of a sudden it blossomed into a band. I didn’t know it would last 40 years.”

Heath says it’s that raw, sometimes undefinable magic of live music that has kept him going all these years. His dad worked for 35 years at the same oil and gas company, a run of consistency the old man wore as true badge of honor. Now here's Heath, surprising himself with his dedication and longevity.
Heath finds his father’s occupation is especially relevant these days. He recently wrote songs for the new Paramount Plus show “Landman” starring Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore and Jon Hamm. The show, which focuses on the West Texas oil industry, is the latest from "Yellowstone" creator Taylor Sheridan.

“I had a phone conversation with Billy Bob a while back, and he was telling me, ‘Yeah, I’m doing this new show that’s going to be filmed in Texas. It’s called ‘Landman,’” Heath says. “And my jaw nearly hit the floor — oil and gas.”

Heath says he's ready to bring his focus back onto Reverend Horton Heat projects. He's working on a new rock ‘n’ roll record and entertaining plans to dabble in gospel and the sort of velvety swing he practically perfected in 1994's "In Your Wildest Dreams." That classic track originated, appropriately, in a dream.

"I saw myself on stage doing this whole recitation,” Heath says. “I’m up there with a drink and a cigarette like Dean Martin. And it’s in a nightclub like in ‘Goodfellas’ and ‘Blue Velvet,’ and it’s all smoky in there and this little jazz band is behind me. And I woke up. I thought to myself, ‘I’ve got to write that down.’ I woke up about 3 a.m., and by 4:30 a.m., I finished writing it all down and I went back to sleep. I can’t believe that all happened, but it was a crazy night."

This is how you know that Heath and Reverend Horton Heat are still living the dream. If you happen to miss 'em this time around, just wait. They always come back.

Reverend Horton Heat play at Marquee Theatre (730 N. Mill Ave.,Tempe) at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8. Tickets are $27 for GA and $47 for balcony GA. Visit marqueetheatreaz.com.