Cockadoodledeux
Alternative Tentacles, 2021
9/10
The long running and always innovative Legendary Shack Shakers, spearheaded by the multi-instrumentalist J.D. Wilkes, return with an album to celebrate their 25 years of making music, and they’ve got past members alongside current members and even a cameo from Jello Biafra.
“Rawhide” gets the album off to a mysterious start that seems like it might segue into horror punk, galloping cowboy rock or maybe even something that could soundtrack a Spaghetti Western with its precise yelping from Biafra and dusty instrumentation, and “Let Me Tickle Your Innards” follows with fiddle friendly, rural rhythms and sounds tailor made for a barnyard dance.
Further on the swirling guitar and retro-rock of “U-Can-Be-A-Star” flows with adventurous piano acrobatics, while “Port Arthur Boys” hint at Ragtime influences amid the smooth singing and agile instrumentation. “I Don’t Remember Loving You”, the album’s lone cover, then tips its hat to classic country with a rugged spirit.
Approaching the end, the clever “Punk Rock Retirement Plan” offers a bouncy, country punk climate, and “Farewell Ye Rovin’ Eyed Girls” exits with plenty of beauty in the breezy, even dreamy, album highlight.
Certainly a more country and western focused affair compared to their previous work, Wilkes and his current band of Gary Siperko, Fuller Condon and Preston Corn are in the company of former members Chris Scrugggs, and Morgan Jahnig, as well as guests Stanley Walker, Jack Martin and ‘Hillbilly’ Bob Prather.
This first quarter century of the Legendary Shack Shakers as been as colorful and exciting as any rock’n’roll band, and the next 25 years sure do look to be just as eventful if this rockabilly, Western Swing, bluegrass and Tex Mex adventure is any indication.
Travels well with: The Devil Makes Three- Chains Are Broken; Possessed By Paul James- As We Go Wandering