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Southern Culture on the Skids
Countrypolitan Favorites
(Yep Roc)
First Appeared in The Music Box, February 2007, Volume 14, #2
Written by John Metzger
There’s something to be said for consistency.
For more than two decades, Southern Culture on the Skids has remained true to
its vision, refusing to contribute to the act of reshaping modern day pop
culture. Instead, the trio from North Carolina has found its groove simply by
settling into the sounds of the past. Not surprisingly, its latest effort
Countrypolitan Favorites achieves the same goal, though it also follows a
slightly different route. Over the course of the set, Southern Culture on the
Skids downplays its usual blend of surf-tinged country and rockabilly fare;
instead, it unearths and embraces its inner garage rock child.
Tackling 15
vintage cover songs that range from Don Gibson’s Oh, Lonesome Me to Joe
South’s Rose Garden to T-Rex’s Life’s a Gas, Southern Culture on
the Skids transforms
what could have been a perfunctory tribute outing into a fun-filled jaunt that
occasionally assumes a life of its own. The Kinks’ Muswell Hillbilly, for
example, is delivered in a playfully boozy fashion that manages to reach across
the span of time separating The Byrds from Wilco. Likewise, Slim Harpo’s Te
Ni Nee Ni Nu brings together the Rolling Stones and the San Francisco
ballroom acts of the 1960s for a simmering slice of R&B, while The Golliwogs’
Fight Fire simply is snarling and raucous. Elsewhere, The Who’s Happy Jack
inventively is adorned with a banjo and an accordion; The Byrds’ Have You
Seen Her Face is whipped into a feverish frenzy; and J.D. Loudermilk’s
Tobacco Road is recast as a swampy, CCR-style rocker. Listening to the
entirety of Southern Culture on the Skids’ canon is apt to leave one with the
impression that the ensemble makes albums primarily to provide fodder for its
concerts. Countrypolitan Favorites, however, makes a strong case for why
the group is considered to be such an excellent host.  ½
Of Further Interest...
John Fogerty - Revival
The Knitters - The Modern Sounds of The Knitters
Tom Petty - Highway Companion
Countrypolitan Favorites is available from
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2007 The Music Box
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