Aged and Confused

AMG Review of Aged and Confused

David Jeffries
All Music Guide

On blue collar comedian Bill Engvall's 2009 release, the title Aged and Confused turns out not to be a tossed off, sort of clever phrase that ultimately means nothing. Instead, it's a perfect moniker for what's arguably the 52-year-old's most thematically sound set, a set filled with the usually folksy observations, but this time focused on the dreaded state of middle age, and the even more dreaded state of what comes next. Connecting with his socially conservative audience, much of the material is inspired by Engvall's feeling that the world has changed for the worse, or at least, the more complicated, with "date nights" a requirement to see your spouse ("But there's a good chance I'm not gonna get lucky. That's hardly a date.") and where ridiculous stunts like Zip-lining are the only way to vacation. "All this stuff is turning me into someone I don't want to be. That grouchy get-off-my-yard guy" says Engvall but he finds it hard to admit that men don't go "Clubbing at 50" ("Ok, the VFW hall, the elks lodge..... I got that"). His confusion with feeling young inside and quite a bit older on the outside is what drives the album, well, that and a trip with the wife that's one disaster after another. Fans know that the grumpy old man thing fits Engvall better than he'd ever care to admit. Letting his inner geezer out little by little is what makes Aged and Confused so funny but it's that losing struggle to keep it in that makes the album so relatable.