The Gourds, Haymaker!
Featured Album
Austin's folksy surrealists mix, match and make a joyful noise.
The first time I glanced at the song titles of the Gourds 'new Haymaker!, I thought, "Cool, a tune called 'Courtney Love.'" Having made the cover version Hall of Fame years ago with their perfect bluegrass rendition of Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice," I knew the Gourds could sing about anything.
Actually, the album opener is called "Country Love," but it says something about Austin's folksy surrealists is that they could easily frame a song about Hole's singer. The song is a pretty straightforward celebration of rural life, with a slight twist in the key line: "We'll watch the stars dancing with the satellite."
Nothing is quite what it seems in the Gourds 'world of impeccably played roots music and outrageous character studies. I keep hearing "Fossil Contender," with its Jaggeresque mewling, as a critique of the contemporary Rolling Stones concert experience, though the lyric deals with archaeologist's uncertainty about what he's just dug up. Haymaker! contains enough perfectly appropriate style exercises to program an Americana station for a day. "All the Way to Jericho" honors Levon Helm and the Band from the get-go; "Hey Thurman" is a tip-of-the-trucker's cap to Mellencamp, though despite a passing reference to "Roky" (probably Erickson), I have no idea what it's about. The old-time country sad-song "Valentine" sounds like a cover from Elvis Costello's "Almost Blue." (Maybe E.C. will invite the Gourds to sing it with him on his cable TV show.)
Everything else pretty much swings and rocks, like the stoned trucker in "Shreveport" blasting Rush in his cab but oozing with contempt for "heavy metal rednecks." You've got to fall in love with the object of the singer's affection in the Cajun roll of "Country Gal," even if her "skin like chocolate milk" makes you wonder which party the Gourds have crashed. As always, lyrics are a funster's delight, and the cultural mix and match of musical styles makes a joyful noise.
