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Waco Brothers
New Deal
(Bloodshot)
First Appeared at The Music Box,
February 2003, Volume 10, #2
Written by John Metzger
In its early days, the Waco Brothers was merely an excuse for Jon Langford to
get sloppy drunk at the expense of Chicago’s many bars while passing the time
between albums and tours by the Mekons, his other group. But somewhere along the
way, the Waco Brothers gelled into the perfect outlet for his (along with Dean
Schlabowske and Tracey Dear’s) country-punk songs. True, its recordings have
been largely hit-and-miss affairs that have never quite packed the wallop of the
band’s concerts, but its 1999 minor masterpiece Wacoworld explored some
of the subtleties of the group’s Rolling Stones-meets-The Clash fury. Late last
year, the band unleashed New Deal, its sixth studio album, and while
there are few surprises contained within the Waco Brothers’ sonic assault, the
disc is a gem, nonetheless.
Throughout New Deal, the sounds of pedal steel and fiddle soar above
the honky-tonk clatter of electric guitar and bass, offering a way out of the
otherwise claustrophobic madness of the workingman’s blues. The Waco Brothers’
music makes for a rip-roaring, whiskey-guzzling time even as the lyrics tackle
the very sociopolitical issues most people are drinking to forget. From economic
hardship (New Deal Blues) to George W. (The Lie) to conservative
behavior (Poison), the band leaves nary a stone unturned in its quest for
righting what’s wrong in the world. "Alcohol, Freedom, & a country song/I’ve
been waiting way too long," the band sings in unison on its new anthem AFC
Song, and quite frankly, the Waco Brothers wouldn’t have it any other way. 
½
New Deal is available
from Amazon.com.
To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
Click Here!
For UK orders, please
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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 © 2003
The Music Box
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