Sometimes you have to wonder about the sanity of musicians. Why do they do what they do? Fame and fortune might well be the aim of many of them but others just do strange things in the night with musical instruments. One of the more quirky - for want of a better word - artists to cross the threshold at Bluesbunny Towers is Stagger Lee who hails from a universe inhabited by the alter egos of the head honcho of the 14 Mercy label, NN Maddox.
Oh, what have we here? A sort of punk country fusion recorded in the finest lo-fi. Country music stripped of all pretension and of its history too. There are odd bits of delta blues thrown in as well as in "Kind of a Redneck" and if it weren't for the shuffling country boogie in the backing track, "Fucked Up All the Time" would make a good (if there were such a thing) inner city rap song. "Sugarland" starts off like a mainstream rock radio song would but those processed vocals give it a sort of surreal appeal and despite the weirdness this is a really strong song that deserves a bigger budget. This album features the odd drug reference or two and is also sure to upset a redneck or two. In fact "Messed with Texas" suggests that ole Stagger Lee's lifespan would be somewhat shorter in the Lone Star state. And he knows it.
This is a difficult album to rate. It is obviously and deliberately uncommercial but there is the ever clear and present danger that a mainstream song might well escape from the torment - you can imagine "A Little Peace of Mind" and "Tell Me What Went Wrong" in the set list of many a more commercial band. Like we said - musicians are not like the rest of us. However, it would be well worth your time to take a listen for yourself. Available by worldwide mail order from CD Baby.