All Relationships are Doomed to Fail

It took no less than the violation of FOUR restraining orders to bring you this album. You better have a better excuse than that for not buying it.

Using all the tools they had handy—mandolins, fiddles, crack songwriting and a baaad-ass singer—they created a record that pays due reverence to the giants of bluegrass like Ralph Stanley, RATT and ABBA.

Full Description

Using all the tools they had handy—mandolins, fiddles, crack songwriting and a baaad-ass singer—TMP gave fresh new meaning to High AND Lonesome. One need only note the album title. What? You gonna say it's wrong? You're one of those Glass Half Full jerks? Yep, these folks have been squeezed through life-n-love's wringer and emerged with their innards bruised but intact.

Jo and her beehive delivers the heartfelt twang, Cherilyn thwacks the bass and chimes in with harmonies, Pete keeps the grass blue with his fiery mandolin and Bill Anderson strums and writes newfound classics.
All Relationships… is a record that pays due reverence to the giants of bluegrass like Ralph Stanley ("Love Me Darling"), RATT (the CAN'T MISS cover of "Round and Round"), Nick Lowe ("Without Love") and ABBA ("S.O.S."). Originals cover the usual topics: trucker speed, facing closing time alone, being treated like a circus clown, and irrestistible urges for self-destruction. It's all served up with a sly wink, a late night sigh, or a sucker punch, depending on the need.

Choice Cuts:
Hey Little Sister
Thinking About Drinking
Round and Round
Dues

Short Description

With All Relationships Are Doomed to Fail, the Meat Purveyors, incredible talents hidden under the guise of sardonic musicians, delve even further into the backwoods of country music, coming out wearing what looks like an ironic grin that’s really a subversive sneer. It’s fun, heartbreaking, and deliciously nasty.

— PopMatters
All Relationships Are Doomed To Fail is just as the title suggests: a fiery collection of another-somebody-done-me-wrong songs.

— Allmusic.com
TMP pull it off with a nudge, a wink and some ruthless picking. Anyone looking for the pure, high lonesome sound is urged to look elsewhere. However, if bluegrass with an edge sounds more appealing, this CD may be the shot of whiskey you’ve been searching for.

— Pulse
They use every tool at their disposal, combining raucous strings, smart and funny lyrics and transcendent two-part female harmonies. In sum, TMP narrow the gap between the spirited, the mean and the joyous.

— Riverfront Times
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.

— Village Voice