So I get home yesterday to find a registered mail slip in my mailbox, and to pick it up at the post office. I go to the post office today and pick up my registered package from Russia and wonder wtf CD it can be because I am not expecting anything, especially from Russia. Open it up and lo' and behold,
Hayseed Dixie have carved themselves a unique niche in music, playing bluegrass covers of classic rock tunes. Having branched out from the music of AC/DC, from whom they took their initial inspiration (as well as their name), A Hot Piece of Grass finds the hillbilly quartet "reinterpreting" songs by Black Sabbath ("War Pigs"), Led Zeppelin ("Black Dog" and "Whole Lotta Love") and Van Halen ("Runnin With the Devil"). Then, to show that they have at least a basic awareness of contemporary music, even in the Tennesse backwoods, they also cover songs by Green Day ("Holiday"), Franz Ferdinand ("This Fire") and even Outkast ("Roses"). But then, as if to prove that theyre not just the twisted redneck cousins of Weird Al, they even manage to fit in a few original songs, mostly played for laughs. The one noteworthy exception is the excellent "Kirby Hill", a darkly playful country anthem that is itself worthy of being covered by other musicians. Irony aside, A Hot Piece of Grass is a showcase for some fine bluegrass music (and album closer "Dueling Banjos" more than proves their abilities). Hayseed Dixie may be about drinking and having fun, but these boys can really play. --Robert Burrow
WTF :zombie: