Hometown: Austin, TX US

Whiskey-fueled and case-hardened deep in the heart of Texas, TMP boast a personal history that would shame Fleetwood Mac, and wood shedding that sends so-called roots revivalists, snooty bluegrass purists, and alt-country poseurs into paroxysms of self-doubt and years of expensive therapy.

And just who are these Texans who dare to breathe fresh life into the overly stoic, staid and mossback world of bluegrass? Anchoring this dysfunctional lot with his percussion guitar and gift for lyrics is recent Austin Music Hall of Fame inductee Bill Anderson (we're guessing it can't be THAT hard to get into, fer crying out loud). Diva Jo Walston is a honky tonk angel gone wrong under a towering beehive, while Miss Cherilyn DiMond delivers piledriver stand-up bass and harmonies directly from the choir (and banter directly from the truck stop parking lot). Mr. Peter Stiles, a reformed Deadhead, presents a flabbergasting prestidigitation on the mandolin and it is rumored that he has never played a bad solo. Ever. Darcie Deaville provides the fiery fiddling and the wild-eyed stares that fans fear to love and love to fear.

The Meat Purveyors are doing their best to keep bluegrass from tottering meekly into a dust-covered coffin. Help them, won't you? You don't want them to get too riled up.

Representative Quote: "Somebody get me a stiff drink." - Jo Walston

“Thinking and drinking. High and lonesome. It’s the kind of song and sentiment The Meat Purveyors have long specialized in. And it’s the stuff that makes them one of the few groups that can honestly claim they were bluegrass before bluegrass was cool.” Scott Holter, Seattle Weekly

“Like the finest tributes to the bottle out there, these remind us of the sheer joy of reveling in self-pity: ‘When I’m not drinking, I’m thinking about drinking / When I’m not thinking, I’m drinking about you.’ Guaranteed to lighten up even the sternest-visaged among us, The Meat Purveyors provide enough pure sensory overload to batter back whatever bummed you out to begin with.” Patricia Brooke, St. Louis Riverfront Times

“A freewheeling mess of punk-meets-country with sassy female vocals and bitter lyrics.” Florida Times-Union

“Well, the Meat Purveyors are back, and there isn’t any shame in saying they’ve been missed. …Most folks are sure to notice how sweetly the voices of singer Jo Walston and bass player Cherilyn DiMond mix, but the real brawn behind the band is mandolin player/album producer Pete Stiles and guitarist Bill Anderson. Stiles’ picking is what keeps the band in the bluegrass tradition, while Anderson, who wrote five of the disc’s 13 tracks, has a fancy way of melding perceptive lyrics and hooky melodies. …Welcome back you crazy Meat Purveyors. Just promise you’ll never ever leave us again. This is one relationship that ought to last a very long time.” Jim Caligiuri, Austin Chronicle

“Sassy vocalist Jo Walston delivers a supremely smooth vocal performance, with nary a hiccup to mar her perfectly teased hair. On top of that, the band tackles uncommon topics in their own songs, like ‘Hey Little Sister,’ a tale of domestic abuse and a family not afraid to close ranks against the abuser to protect one of their own.” Vanessa Salvia, Eugene Weekly

“Frontwoman Jo Walston sounds fragile, dissolute, determined, and mean in unpredictable combinations. She’s never more winning than when warning a ‘little sister’ who may or may not be her kin against guys who leave bruises on your arm, and come to think of it, men in general are piss-poor, and didn’t you like it better living with me anyway? A minus.” Robert Christgau, The Village Voice

“Musically they stay close to the roots with their stellar ensemble pickin’ and the high lonesome sound of lead vocalist Jo Walston, but their snappy original material and their ability to transform pop chestnuts proves that there’s nothing retro or neo in this gang.” Stereo-Type

Compilation Tracks:

"TMP Smackdown w/ The Meat Purveyors" documentary on the DVD Bloodied But Unbowed: Bloodshot Records' Life In The Trenches

"John Hardy" on the Pine Valley Cosmonauts' The Executioner's Last Songs: Volumes 2&3

"Sunshine" on Down to the Promised Land

"The Madonna Triolgy" on Making Singles, Drinking Doubles

"Little White Pills" on For a Decade of Sin: 11 Years of Bloodshot Records

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