Recording information: Cedar Creek recording, Austin, TX.
Photographer: George Brainard.
History has seen some unusual musical hybrids. Western Swing (country and jazz), Zydeco (Cajun folk and blues), and Third Stream (jazz and classical) are among those that have been both embraced and scorned. With BLOOD & MOOD, the Texan roots-oriented ensemble known as the Bad Livers combines country music with hip-hop rhythms and electronica.
"Love Songs Suck" is the Livers' take (take-off?) on everything's-gone-down-the-toilet/moanin'-the-blues country songs. With its loping hip-hop rhythm track and gently drawling vocal (a bit like Hot Tuna's Jorma Kaukonen), it sounds like a Steve Earle song produced by DJ Spooky. "Looky Here" is a rhythm-driven collage of banjo picking, whimsical pedal steel, funky guitar licks, and samples from old-time (pre-'60s) country music radio and Southern gospel records. The giddy, gloomy, and screwy BLOOD & MOOD is not recommended for traditional country fans, but open-minded listeners who love country music should be enchanted.
Professional Reviews
CMJ (4/10/00, pp.25-6) - "...Blends [punk rock and bluegrass] as smoothly as others have blended hip-hop and R&B....one small step for peaceful relations between hillbillies and punkers and one giant leap for one of the most creative acts on the roots'n'blues circuit."
No Depression (3-4/00, pp.107-9) - "...Danny Barnes and Mark Rubin are two of the smartest and most adept musicians at work today....[they] made their acoustic instruments passionate extensions of their voices, and Barnes was and is a prodigiously talented picker and a glorious singer..."
