The Meat Purveyors
All Relationships Are Doomed to Fail
Bloodshot
When they broke up after two releases, Austin’s randy bluegrass band The Meat Purveyors left a hole in the music scene that no one else rushed to fill. Too country for rockers, and not traditional enough for the festival bluegrass crowd, TMP existed in their own little niche, singing their songs of devilment and heartbreak, and rethinking such material as “Burning Love” or Lou Reed. Then a few of the band members started bumpin’ uglies, and the whole enterprise went down the tubes.
Well, grabbing whatever lemons the blighted romance left ‘em, and adding a generous slug of rotgut, the band has reformed and with the aptly titled All Relationships Are Doomed to Fail, they return, sassy as ever, and prove you can’t keep a good band down. All the hallmarks of the TMP sound are here. Bill Anderson stills thrashes his six-string as if he was in a Bay Area punk band, Jo Walston croons so seductively ya wanna hug her, and along with bassist Cherilyn Dimond and ace mando picker Pete Stiles, the band sounds as good as they ever have. The covers they set their sights on this time around include a winning “Without Love” from Nick Lowe, a faithful Ralph Stanley number, and just for grins, a pretty “SOS” from ABBA and a version of “Round And Round” by Ratt that is almost as stupid as the original. As fun as these moments may well be, they don’t equal the prowess of some of the original material such as the spirited opener “Hey Little Sister,” the cry in the beerness of “Circus Clown” or the dark night evil of “I Have a Devil in Me”. With help from fiddler Darcie Deaville, this is some damn fine music. Welcome back, TMP. Keep your paws to yourself this time, OK?
Bloodshot Records: http://www.bloodshotrecords.com
