23 February 2010
by Colin Somerville
Release of the Week
4/5

After the final chords of the boogielicious Mona Lee, one of the band hollers: "I knew there was a reason I woke up this morning!" That captures the ebullience and rapture of this record, with every note sounding as much fun to play as it is to listen to.

Jason Ringenberg formed his Scorchers in the 1980s, and the likes of their interpretation of Dylan's Absolutely Sweet Marie created the three-chord country genre of cowpunk.

Whether keeping it simple with the tasty country twist of When Did It Get So Easy (To Lie To Me) and the folksy Mother Of Greed, or the redneck-ribbing opener Moonshine Guy ("…in a six pack world") this album is remarkably consistent considering it comes 14 years after the last one.

Land Of The Free is a good stab at creating progressive country rock from cascading guitar power chords and a strident bass rhythm, with harmonica and banjos riding in from a nearby canyon. Twangtown Blues comes steaming out of the swamp, evolving into a two-step cheeseburger to die for.

But for sheer joyous cheek it is hard to top the misappropriation of the riff from Green Day's American Idiot to form the throbbing backbone of We Got It Goin' On. Yee, and indeed, hah!