The Fox Hunt - I'll Drink Cheap (Vid)

Sorry about the lack of activity around here. Just some personal shit going on, but never fear I'll get back to it shortly with a few big surprises I have in the works.

Right now I want you guys to know that the new Fox Hunt album IS OUT, and it's FUCKING GREAT!

There will be a proper review later, but for now.......Listen and order here, and enjoy this vid of one of the new songs.

Free Music Alert: Prison Book Club - LIVE in Shepherdstown

WOW!, discovered this from the other Big Bullet Records link I posted a few posts ago. Now I LOVE this band. I love their raw energy and unbridled bar room honky tonk. This is great shit. Fans of the rougher side of Drive By Truckers (i.e. Cooley) would be doing themselves a favor to check this out.

Now as I've mentioned before in my review of their debut album Required Reading, Prison Book Club is a band whose core members are Tucker Riggleman of The Demon Beat, and John Miller from The Fox Hunt (who I must mention have an album coming out later this year). This thing is rough around the edges and you just smell the whiskey and cigarette smoke coming from the speakers when you play it.


Download Prison Book Club - LIVE in Shepherdstown here

(awesome photo courtesy of Ashley Hoffman)

Album Review: Prison Book Club - Required Reading

Here is a killer little album I have been diggin' the hell out of lately. Prison Book Club are a West Virginia super group of sorts, comprised of John Miller from The Fox Hunt, Tucker Riggleman & Adam Meisterhans of The Demon Beat, and drummer Jeff Birdsall. Now you folks should be familiar with the unique brand of mountain music the Fox Hunt dishes out, but you may not be familar with The Demon Beat. The Demon Beat are a full steam ahead, damn the torpedos rock band who would not be out of place on a bill with Jon Spencer, The Black Keys, or The White Stripes to name a few. That is to say, while they are not really as blues centric as those bands, they have a fresh take on traditional rock with a healthy twist or two of punk thrown in. So what does it sound like when the two bands mix...well exactly what you think it might sound like, a rowdy rock band with lots of twang sounding like neither of the bands which make up it's sum. Remember back in the early 90's when punk and twang were being mixed together to create an exciting new sound we didn't know what to call....that's what Prison Book Club sounds like.

The easiest comparison I can make to Prison Book club however, is early Lucero. More specifically the first self titled Lucero album. Lots of twang, lots of guitar, lots of self reflecting whiskey soaked lyrics that just beg you to sing along. My favorite songs on this album are the ones sung by Fox Hunt's John Miller which I think are the strongest. That's not to say that Riggleman's songs are bad, no they are good too, but this type of music better suites Miller's vocal style is all. Prison Book Club is best when it combines the best of both bands, the singing and songwriting of Miller, and the thumping bass & passionate lead guitar of Riggleman & Meisterhan respectively. No song is this more evident than my favorite song on this album, the epic "When I Go", which reminds me why I fell in love with this type of music in the first place.

This album is recommended for anyone who likes their twang served with a healthy portion of rock....or vice versa. Either way, this is the album you want to turn up to 11, rip the knob off (as Patterson Hood says), and pour a shot or 5 of the cheap stuff.

Prison Book Club are currently playing shows around their hometown of Shepherdstown, West Virginia and if your in the area you don't want to miss what the band describes as PBR-mageddon.

Required Reading can be ordered straight from the band for a measly 8 bucks here. Also visit the Big Bullet Record's site for more info of both Prison Book Club and The Demon Beat

Listen to Prison Book Club - Everything's Fine

Listen to Prison Book Club - When I Go

Extremely belated album review: The Fox Hunt - America's Working Hard So We Don't Have To

I promised an album review to these guys well over a few months ago. Since then they have actually released a self-titled EP, and are in the midst of making their third studio album. I look extremely forward to that new studio album, and the track I've heard off that EP was great.

This album however, released earlier in the year does not contain any new material. No it is a string band album front to back. Very old time sounding. I would call it timeless sounding. Like hopping in a time machine and catching a hoedown in post-civil war Appalachia. That's what this album is, old time mountain music. West Virginia mountain music I'm sure the band would be quick to point out. You know those songs Alan Lomax went around recording on poor equipment back in the 20's and 30's, those old scratchy sounding songs that still manage to evoke so much power. These are well produced versions of those same songs by a band who plays them with so much reverence you would swear they were from another time.

The album pretty consistently alternates between singing songs and instrumentals, and I don't know which ones I like more. I will say after revisiting this album for this review it is a perfect album for this fall time of year. Now that may just me being sentimental as I have many fond memories of going to the "Lumberjackin' Bluegrassin' Jamboree" every October as a child at Twin Falls State Park in The Fox Hunt's home state of West Virginia. And that's what this album reminds me of. So if you passed on this album back in the spring, or did happen to pick it up but haven't gave it a listen lately, DIG IT OUT AND LISTEN TO IT! This is perfect fall, leaves turning, mountain music!

Here is what a guy who writes better reviews than me thinks of it

Visit The Fox Hunt website

Buy the album here

Vid of Hang Me off this album

Listen to Fox Hunt - Picked Up A Hammer here

Listen to Fox Hunt - Little Rose here

The Fox Hunt - We Know This Town/Crackshot (Video)

Another band I'll be talking about later but you folks can enjoy now