Hayseed Dixie
A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC
Dualtone/Western Beat
Have you heard Ween’s cover of Snoop Doggy Dogg’s “Gin & Juice”? Take that, multiply it by ten, and substitute AC/DC for Snoop, and you’ve got Hayseed Dixie’s debut record, A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC. Exactly what the title claims it is, Hayseed Dixie take on AC/DC’s best-known songs – all the ones you’ve heard a million times on rock radio, and plays them in a totally straightforward, grass roots country style, replete with mandolins, steel guitar, banjo, fiddle, and the like. It’s frickin’ hilarious to hear “Highway To Hell,” “You Shook Me All Night Long,” “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,” and especially “Big Balls” done in a style that’s straight outta Appalachia, but even more, it speaks to both the versatility of AC/DC’s music and country music – if, for some insane reason, you hadn’t heard songs like “Hell’s Bells” and “Back In Black” before, it’d be easy to believe they were written in this style. It’s that factor, and the skill level of the band, that raises the project beyond parody into a record that actually stands up to repeat listening. But let’s face it, the record’s major appeal is in the novelty factor, and this is easily one of the funniest records you’ll ever hear, one that you’ll be pulling out of your collection to play for new friends for years to come, enthusiastically gushing, “you gotta hear this!” And it pays to read the liner notes, establishing the back story of the project, making the whole thing even funnier! Great fun, indeed!
Dualtone Music Group, 2105 Elliston Place, 2nd Floor, Nashville, TN 37203; http://www.dualtone.com, http://westernbeat.com
