We specialize in hard to find items
(1)
*Price and Stocks may change without prior notice
*Packaging of actual item may differ from photo shown
- Electrical items MAY be 110 volts.
- 7 Day Return Policy
- All products are genuine and original
Features
-
The Gourds- Haymaker!
About
Product Description ''Gourds Music'' has its next chapter. Unclassifiable Austin sons The Gourds are back with Haymaker!, the crooked cousin to their critically acclaimed last album, Noble Creatures. On Haymaker! the band circles back, digs beneath and climbs over their gin soaked music roots with an album of grass-fed cosmic country. Rattling flourishes of soul, swamp rock and gospel rhythms spill out all over the place. Psychic songwriting apparatus Jimmy Smith, Kevin Shinyribs Russell and Max Johnston continue their chronicling of askew Texas characters who populate the subterranean Lone Star State, a world of 'Fossil Contender's', 'Luddite's', 'Valentines' and women with skin like chocolate milk, so beautiful they make married men feel no guilt. Haymaker! will undoubtedly slake the thirst of hardcore and fledgling Gourds fans alike and tip unsuspecting ears to the colorful Texas thump being laid down by this legendary band. Review There's a band out of Austin, Texas called The Gourds. I've loved them for years, but I always find myself somewhat tongue-tied (or keyboard-tied) when I try to describe them and their music. A couple of them have skanky ZZ Top beards, beerguts, and look like they should be driving big rigs. They have an accordion player named Claude. They have two lead singers who do very passable imitations of Levon Helm and Rick Danko from The Band -- merely two of the best rock vocalists ever. They play a sort of swamp rock/boogie/Cajun/country conglomeration that doesn't fit easily within any of those niches. And the songs? They sing about flatulence, Star Trek, weather girls, Schoolhouse Rock, and Catwoman. All of which would lead you to believe that they're a sort of weirdly adolescent, pop-culture-obsessed novelty act, which they are, but then they turn around and knock you out with a perfect unrequited love song that sounds so real and honest and desperate that you'd swear the lyrics were written in blood.They have a new album called Haymaker!, which will be out right after the beginning of the year. It's probably their best album in a long career of good and very good albums. It's raw and soulful. There's a little more of a Cajun influence and a lot more classic Levon Helm hillbilly wail this time around. There are songs about do rags. There are songs about otherwise unknown people named Thurman. There are songs about fossils. And there are great love and unrequited love songs. They do what they've always done, only better. Right now it's at the top of my Best Albums of 2009 list. Yeah, I know. But I'll still bet that it won't move off the list. --Paste Magazine's Andy WhitmanThe exclamation point in the title of the Gourds' latest album doesn't lie: The Austin-based band plays an emphatic, exclamatory amalgam of Americana styles, ambling through pre-rock country, bluegrass, rockabilly, and Western swing. The Lone Star angle is essential in differentiating the band from the crowd of Appalachia-descended string bands who have sprung up in the Gourds' wake; the Hackensaw Boys, the Avett Brothers, and Chatham County Line play many of the same instruments, but toward regionally and musically different ends. The Gourds draw from the same well as Doug Sahm, Willie Nelson, and Johnny Bush, which makes them part bar-band rockers and part ensemble pickers. In their live shows, they dig their spurs into a song and open up its possibilities, whether it's a spirited original or an unlikely cover. Their stage presence is the key to their longevity, but their studio albums have become increasingly adventurous, with 2007's Noble Creatures and now Haymaker! gradually closing the gap between their recorded material and their performances. The non-punctuation part of that album title refers to a knockout punch that floors your opponent. That might be overselling the album, but a dependable swing isn't far off. Haymaker! is a typically witty, rambunctious album that shuffles up the band members like a deck
