Southern Culture on the Skids Albums (11)
'Countrypolitan Favorites'
Release Date 2/20/2007
Tracks 15
Label Yep Roc
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What The Critics Say
When a veteran band follows up a live album with a collection of covers, it's hard not to wonder if they're running short on ideas, but while Southern Culture on the Skids may not be generating much in the way of new material, 2007's Countrypolitan Favorites shows they're still playing (and singing) up a storm. Featuring 15 tunes associated with other artists, Countrypolitan Favorites belies its own title with the diverse variety of material on board; no one familiar with SCOTS's tongue-in-cheek hillbilly shtick will be surprised by the covers of "Oh Lonesome Me," "Wolverton Mountain" or "Tobacco Road," but the group also reveals some unexpected influences on this set. Rick Miller and Mary Huff offer some lovely languid harmonies on the T. Rex classic " "Life's a Gas," the band delivers the Kinks' "Muswell Hillbilly" with a potent blend of twang and soulful respect, and Miller's typically superb guitar work shines on a reverb-soaked interpretation of the Byrds' "Have You Seen Her Face." SCOTS's gift for navigating swampy grooves is also on display on their versions of "Te Ni Nee Ni Nu" and "Funnel of Love," and it's hard to believe it has taken them this long to get around to recording George Jones' paean to the joys of mate swapping, "Let's Invite Them Over." As always, Rick Miller is a firebrand guitarist with chops, taste and a sense of humor, and Mary Huff and Dave Hartman are a killer, no-nonsense rhythm section, while Miller's production injects just the right amount of pop-friendly intelligence when it's needed. A few new songs would have been a nice addition to Countrypolitan Favorites, but there's no arguing that Southern Culture on the Skids know how to pick a song that works for them, and this album is a hoot for anyone who has embraced their Dixie-fried aesthetic. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
'Play Countrypolitan Favorites'
Release Date 1/1/2007
Tracks 15
Label Yep Roc
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What The Critics Say
While Southern Culture on the Skids have been making good-to-great records since 1991's Too Much Pork for Just One Fork, their real strength has always been as a live act, and anyone who has seen them on-stage knows a typical SCOTS show is a sweat-soaked frenzy of roaring guitars, pounding drums, manic dancing, and fried chicken flying through the air. A live Southern Culture show is also where guitarist and singer Rick Miller really pulls out the stops and demonstrates why he's one of the most underrated trash-rock guitarists walking the Earth, calling up the shades of Link Wray, Dick Dale, and Carl Perkins without batting an eye, and thankfully the band has finally taken the trouble of putting one of their gigs on sound-bearing plastic for public consumption with the album Doublewide and Live. Recorded before an audibly enthusiastic crowd at Local 506 in their hometown of Chapel Hill, NC, Doublewide and Live doesn't add anything new to the band's repertoire, but it does present 16 tunes from the SCOTS songbook with the high-impact energy of their live show intact, and in this case it really does make a difference. Miller's guitar work has rarely sounded this feral on record before, Mary Huff and Dave Hartman are a tight and hard-groovin' rhythm section throughout, and on extended workouts like "Ditch Diggin'," "Banana Pudding," and "Meximelt," you can practically hear the sweat pour off the band and its audience. Given their upfront sense of humor and fascination with White Trash culture, more than a few people have pegged Southern Culture on the Skids as a "joke band," but on-stage they're as passionate, dedicated, and hard-working as any band you're likely to see, and that fire has finally been harnessed on a CD with Doublewide and Live -- longtime fans will love it, and doubters will find out what they've been missing for the past 15 years. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Following the departure of keyboard player Chris Bess, Southern Culture on the Skids have pared themselves back down to a three-piece on their eighth full-length album, Mojo Box. While it's not quite a return to the gloriously greasy stomp of such early classics as For Lovers Only and Ditch Diggin', there is a significantly lower "novelty" factor here than they have displayed since their move up to the big leagues with Dirt Track Date, and the relatively leaner sound agrees with them. While SCOTS are a good-time band if there ever was one, a "funny for the sake of funny" vibe was starting to sink into the band's sound, but Mojo Box finds Rick Miller's songwriting displaying a keener focus than has been heard in years, and his bizarro-world redneck fantasias of luxury mobile homes, hot babes in halter tops, and classic muscle cars play more to his strengths than, say, "House of Bamboo" or "Make Mayan a Hawaiian." Miller's guitar work is in typically stellar form, too, while bassist Mary Huff holds down the bottom end with both efficiency and imagination (and sounds good on her vocal features) and drummer Dave Hartman is still making the clatter that matters. While Mojo Box has more than a few keyboard overdubs (including one guest spot from the departed Bess) and sounds pretty tidy by this band's standards, it still harks back to what made Southern Culture on the Skids more than just a batch of funny redneck jokes, and this is a welcome gesture back to classic form. Gotta love the twang-tastic cover of the Creation's "Biff Bang Pow" too! ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
'Liquored Up and Laquered Down'
Release Date 10/31/2000
Tracks 13
Label TVT
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What The Critics Say
Those who like their music on the humorous side will more than enjoy the raucous seventh release from Southern Culture on the Skids. To label this North Carolina-based quartet under the category of Southern rock would be limiting. On Liquored Up and Lacquered Down, Southern Culture on the Skids melds different styles into its core Southern rock sound and breaks many traditional rules of the genre. One of the talents of Southern Culture on the Skids lies in its ability to musically venture way out there -- industrial-like processed vocals, high-reverb surf guitar, Spanish-style horn parts, and other un-Southern rock-like treatments -- and bring the songs back home. It's the kind of cohesiveness found among groups who've developed a synergy from years of playing together. Liquored Up and Lacquered Down is an example of true ensemble playing, where the parts all effortlessly work together, no matter how far out the musicians take them. "Pass the Hatchet" combines '60s-style shag music, psychedelic rhythm lines, and a shuffling snare drum inherent to rockabilly. This is a party song that can easily fit in on a movie soundtrack, à la Austin Powers. The collection does take a turn to the minimalist side in "Over It," which features mostly bone-dry parts, with perhaps a bit of reverb on the vocals and guitars. It's a real tribute to '50s rock & roll. On the set's choicest number, "I Learned to Dance in Mississippi," industrial-style distorted guitars and vocals meet rollicking country music; another example of the band's adventurous and eclectic nature. It's no coincidence that a group named Southern Culture on the Skids writes songs about drinking, drinking, and more drinking, in a variety of milieus. But it all comes off as harmless banter thanks to the honky tonk party music. Co-lead singers Rick Miller (guitar) and Mary Huff (bass) resemble the Big Bopper and Grace Slick, respectively, on some songs, and rival the vocal antics of Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson of the B-52's. There are no radio hits here, but that's only because there really aren't many stations that support this kind of offbeat, genre-straddling Southern rock music. However, Liquored Up and Lacquered Down would be right at home in bars, Karaoke clubs, jukeboxes, and the CD collections of those who like off-the-beaten-path Southern rock party music. ~ Liana Jonas, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Although Plastic Seat Sweat lacks some of the manic energy that made Southern Culture on the Skids' early independent records so entertaining, it nevertheless is a strong latter-day psychobilly record. The style is predictable, but there are unexpected twists and turns in every other song, plus an abundance of catchy hooks and tightly written songs that makes Plastic Seat Sweat go down easily. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
After spending the first half of the 1990s as one of America's hardest-working independent bands, Southern Culture on the Skids took the bait and signed with a major label in 1995, releasing its fifth album, Dirt Track Date, on Geffen/DGC that year. Dirt Track Date proved to be something of a disappointment for the group's hardcore fans; nearly half the album's songs had appeared on previous SCOTS releases ("Eight Piece Box" hit plastic for the third time on this set), and while producer Mark Williams was sympathetic to the band's approach, the slightly grittier, more homemade sound of For Lovers Only and Ditch Diggin' better suited the band's Dixie-fried guitar textures than Williams' tidier approach. But while Williams cleaned up the band's sound a bit, he didn't rob Rick Miller's hot-rodded guitar of its power to shake the house, and if the set list is familiar to old fans, it makes for an excellent "Greatest Hits" set, with the chicken-scratch R&B of "Soul City," the faux-exotica of "Galley Slave," and the slow-turning dance groove of "Camel Walk" offering rockin' proof that there was a lot more to this band than hillbilly jokes. For Lovers Only is probably Southern Culture on the Skids' best album, but Dirt Track Date may well be the best place for first-time listeners to investigate the band's enchantingly warped take on American roots rock. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Southern Culture on the Skids seemed to be reaching out to a larger audience ever so slightly on 1993's Ditch Diggin'; the songs are shorter and more concise than on For Lovers Only, the hooks are a shade more prominent, and the production is cleaner and tighter than on previous albums, making it a more user-friendly experience for beginners. But anyone who had liked SCOTS before would find lots to enjoy here and, if anything, the album broadens the group's already-varied musical palette, adding a strong (and less jokey) straight-ahead country accent to "My House Has Wheels" and "The Fly That Rose From Buffalo," and a cool R&B flavor to "Lordy Lordy" and "The Little Things." And if America had a better white trash party band in the 1990s than SCOTS, who were they? Rick Miller's guitar work just keeps getting hotter with the passage of time, and his wild rides on "Jack the Ripper" and "Rumors of Surf" are sheer trash rock heaven, while bassist Mary Huff and percussionist Dave Hartman give him all the firm support he needs. Ditch Diggin' is funny, it rocks, and you can even dance to it, and if that's not your idea of a great album, then maybe you shouldn't be bothering with this rock & roll stuff in the first place. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
While 1991's Too Much Pork for Just One Fork was a good calling card for Southern Culture on the Skids after the band went through a major restructuring period, most of the album sounded a bit too clean for its own good, with the production too drab and faceless to flatter the band's aural personality. For the most part recorded at the band's rehearsal space, 1993's For Lovers Only was a remarkable improvement; Dave Schmitt's production and engineering give these tracks a lively, vividly ambient sound that makes the most of Dave Hartman's clattering percussion and Mary Huff's dead-solid bass, while Rick Miller's guitar work sounds positively heroic compared to his earlier stuff, fusing the styles of Link Wray, Dick Dale, Steve Cropper, Travis Wammick, and a dozen other roots guitar icons into a single trailer park genius with a battered Danelectro. Miller is also given plenty of room to stretch out and strut his stuff and, on "Nashville Toupee" and "Biscuit Eater," he manages that rarity in contemporary rock music, extended guitar solos you can actually dance to. While most of the songs cover the band's favorite theme -- namely, life on the white trash side of the fence -- the humor is a lot more charitable than most bands following a similar path; they strive to suggest that they're making fun of themselves more than anyone else, which helps a lot. And Miller writes great tunes that should bring a smile to anyone who digs American rock & roll in its purest form. And, finally, do you really want to be without an album that features a song dedicated to Hank Snow, Carl Perkins, and William Shatner? Of course not! ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
'Too Much Pork for Just One Fork'
Release Date 1/1/1991
Tracks 16
Label Moist
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Seven years after the release of its eponymous debut album, Southern Culture On The Skids returned with a fantastic collection of songs about food and sex dubbed Too Much Pork For Just One Fork. The record improves vastly upon the roots-rock boogie of the first album, with a little more sleazy groove and with a new rhythm section of Mary Huff on bass and Dave Hartman on drums. ~ Matt Carlson, All Music Guide
