There are country shows you can bring your mother to, and then there’s Wheeler Walker Jr. Last night, the latter brought his Pullin’ Out: The Farewell Tour to The Sylvee in Madison, with opener Colton Bowlin on the bill and very little left to the imagination. Even the tour’s title offered a pretty good indication of where the evening was headed.

For anyone unfamiliar with the man behind the cowboy persona, Wheeler Walker Jr. is the creation of comedian Ben Hoffman. That context helps explain an act whose commitment to country music is matched by its commitment to saying things that would make a radio programmer reach for the emergency mute button. Think of Steel Panther’s gleefully obscene approach to rock, transported to the honky-tonk.

Walker’s opening three songs moved from an invitation to sit on his face to oral sex to an encounter with a redneck. There was apparently no need for a gradual introduction to the material.

That opening stretch also provides a useful explanation of the joke. Wheeler takes the swagger and sexual innuendo familiar to country music and pushes them well past the point of suggestion. The punch lines arrive wearing a cowboy hat, and subtlety has already left the building. Anyone expecting a conventional farewell filled with sentimental reflections would have needed to adjust those expectations early.

Bowlin handled opening duties before Walker’s headlining set, giving the Madison bill a second name worth knowing. But the evening’s defining subject was the outrageous character at its center and just how far Hoffman was willing to take him.

With a farewell tour called Pullin’ Out, a tasteful goodbye was always going to be a long shot.

Photographer Dan DeSlover was at The Sylvee to capture the night for The Early Registration. Check out his photos from the show below.