We said a while ago that Kevin Russell of the Gourds has long been one of our favorite ENTERTAINERS. That hasn't changed, of course and we'd like to take this opportunity to plug his latest record, under the moniker Shinyribs, called Well After Awhile [out May 18th on Nine Mile Records].
In addition to always keeping the arrangements interesting [remember the tubas on "Sam Morgan"???], Shinyribs manages to walk that fine line as only Kev Russell can between potent spirituality/soul that springs from the lyrics/phrasing and the wit/humor found on the likes of "Country Cool" and "Poor People's Store".
From "Country Cool":
I don't like giving my dollars to China for this plastic paradigm
But I'll give 'em all to Mexico and Milwaukee twelve aluminum cans at a time
Our favorites on this record include the aforementioned "Poor People's Store" and "Country Cool", "Fisherman's Friend", "Who Built The Moon", "(If You Need The) 442" and "East Tx Rust" which to us feels a little like Elvis' funky version of Chuck Berry's "Promised Land" and even features a verse from perennial alt-512 favorite Ray Wylie Hubbard.
Some other notes:
-Anytime anyone can work the phrase "sexy funeral" into a song [as Kev Russell does on "(If You Need The) 442"], we are in. No questions asked.
-"Poor People's Store" gets a lot of Roger Miller-esque mileage out of a ukuele + (bongos?) + tambourine + bass + vox arrangement on a very cleverly crafted succinct, statement of a song.
-We have no idea who did the art on Well After Awhile nor do we have any idea who did the artwork on Jon Snodgrass and Cory Branan's S/T but there are similarities. Thats all we're saying. 'Nuff said? Let's move on.
With nary a weak spot on this record, Well After Awhile is definitely going to find a spot in our favorite records of 2010.
1 comment:
Shinyribs is joined by 4 monkeys on the cover of his new solo record...do you think that's a subtle allusion to The Gourds?
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