Hayseed Dixie - No Covers

And the hicks just keep on comin’…

What started as a novelty project with a 2001 album of AC/DC songs performed in hillbilly bluegrass style became a long-running joke in danger of wearing thin to the point of transparency. Over another five records the Hayseeds stuck to their task, reworking other heroes of metal (Kiss, Judas Priest) and culminating in last year’s Weapons Of Grass Destruction, which subjected the likes of The Beatles, Sex Pistols and Scissor Sisters to the same treatment.

No Covers, as the title suggests, is the group’s first full album of original material, and a fairly ho-hum collection of bog-standard barroom workouts it is. Bouncing Betty Boogie is a cliché-ridden two-step that sounds like it was made up on the spot, Born To Die In France is a laboured attempt at a sepia-toned folk ballad of a bygone war, while You’ve Got Me All Wrong Baby is little more than B-side George Thorogood with bonus banjo.

The reinterpretations of well-known tunes of yore had clearly run their course, but on this evidence, Hayseed Dixie are nowhere near ready to make the leap towards something more tangible or credible. Honestly, any night of the week in Austin or Nashville, you could find a dozen bands better than this playing for tips and tequila.

2 stars 2 stars

Cooking Vinyl | COOKCD 454

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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