Yet Miss Christina also sings most of the straighter songs, jazz torch ballads and such. Her song "Breathin'" probably rates as the best original group composition, as far as actual songwriting goes. I'd be real interested to hear what KD Lang could do with this song.
She can do a lot of other groovy things. She also has a strong Betty Boop voice she uses to advance the most vaudevillian aspects of the band, particularly on her and Wammo's original "Scrotum Song."
What the hell is wrong with this Wammo dude, anyway? With his chemical interests, cowboy hat, washboard playing and general flying of the freak flag, he's obviously a very bad influence on society and the rest of the band.
Well, he might not be that bad an influence on Korey Simeone, the mama's boy in the top hat playing MC and badass dobro and other stringed things. Mr Simeone obviously has problems, as you might should be figuring out by the time he's running around on all fours and barking like a dog. Plus, I think he might have peed on Wammo's leg. Good. He deserves it. In any case, this Korey guy is messed up enough that even Wammo couldn't really make it much worse.
Also, if you get into this video you can feel good about being part of this audience. Looks like perhaps as many as a thousand people really paying attention, and getting what's going on.
In particular groovy ol' Stanley goes to playing Les Paul's "Walkin' & Whistlin' Blues." He started out by telling the audience that he was going to want them to whistle the blues, then pointed his clarinet out a couple minutes later. It wasn't perfect, but the crowd whistled back pretty much the whole song in a recognizable form. Remember, this was recorded in Oregon, so it's not like this is their regular Austin crowd that might get to see them regularly. It feels good to be part of a SMART crowd, even vicariously by video.
If you've got any interest in acoustic or roots music, you really should hear this band. Better yet, you should SEE this band to really get what the act is about.
Also, they're not from this video specifically, but CLICK HERE to get an mp3 stream of songs from their website, including a couple of particularly interesting Prince covers featuring Miss Christina.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
reminds me a little of Hayseed Dixie.
2 - Al Barger
There may be a bit of spiritual connection between the humorous acoustic music of ASS and Hayseed Dixie, but they don't actually sound much alike. Hayseed Dixie is pretty much specifically a bluegrass act.
ASS could certainly do bluegrass, but I didn't see much that would qualify as such on this video.
Now, I like Hayseed Dixie, but they seem to be a somewhat limited joke. ASS are considerably more musically ambitious.
3 - Mark Saleski
yea, i'd agree with that. these guys seem to lean more to country swing rather than straight bluegrass.
and i've got to be in the mood for the jokey aspect of it (like when i pull out my copy of Luther Wright & the Wrongs doing the bluegrassy version of Floyd's The Wall)
4 - Eric Olsen
Thanks Al! and don't forget the Chickasaw Mud Puppies or the Gourds.
5 - Al Barger
Mark- After I suggested that ASS doesn't do much with bluegrass, I started listening to this excellent bluegrass cover of "1999."