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1999
| BS 056
Digital Only

More Songs About Buildings and Cows

The Meat Purveyors

CD sold out.  Available only digitally

Enough sass, sorrow, and spit to rattle anyone foolish enough to think that bluegrass is boring festival music for the Camper Van set.

Full Description

What can you expect from this dandy little number---their second CD? Fiddles, mandolins, stand-up bass, acoustic guitars, two-part female vocal harmonies, and enough sass, sorrow, and spit to rattle anyone foolish enough to think that bluegrass is boring festival music for the Camper Van set.

As with their first CD, traditional numbers like the gospel-fervor chestnut "Working on a Building" or Bill Monroe's "Can't You Hear Me Callin'" butt up against originals about pills, beer, doomed men, and pushy women.  There's the double entendre of "Tall Boy," the vitamin happy "Little White Pills" and the nut-cracking smack down of "More Man" (as in "I'm more man than you'll ever be and more woman than you'll ever get."  Ouch.) "We Kill Evil", well, we're not sure what to do with this blast of neighbor-hating nuttiness.  But, damn, it's fun to sing along to.

And we can't forget the covers of those country music stalwarts Lou Reed ("What Goes On"), and Daniel Johnston ("Museum of Love").

Yes, they can play super fast, but they can also wring buckets of emotion out of their instruments when it suits them. Yes, they can be irreverent, but one listen to the doe-eyed Jo Walston singing a waltz about love gone south, and you will believe. If you think you hate bluegrass, we double-dog dare you to take on TMP.  They're pretty enough for your maw-maw and punk enough for your vicious little brother.

Choice Cuts:
Tall Boy
Working on a Building
More Man
We Kill Evil

Short Description

  • Gallons of bluegrass flavors and punk rock style.

    — Seattle Weekly

  • Chock full o’ chops, brimming with smartass piss ‘n’ vinegar, and spearheaded by the saucy, hellcat vocals of Jo Walston, the Purveyors are good to go, tearing the snot out of time-honored standards and driving Lou Reed into the hills with manic, equal-opportunity ferocity.

    — No Depression

  • I love it when roots bands prove that to be respectful needn’t mean being dreary, and on those grounds, the Meat Purveyors give plenty of reason to love them.

    — Exclaim

  • Concentrate only on their jokes and word play, and you might overlook their musical abilities—missing the reason they're able to pull the whole thing off in the first place. TMP's combination of musical chops and mirth is both uncommon and a helluva lot of fun.

    — Austin Chronicle

  • When they get cookin', you'll suddenly ask 'Is there really that much difference between a fiddle-sizzling hoedown ditty and a balls-to-the-wall hardcore track?' Methinks not.

    — Splendid Zine

Track List

  • 1. Tallboy
  • 2. Clean Slate
  • 3. Museum of Love
  • 4. Whatcha Gonna Do
  • 5. Little White Pills
  • 6. Travel & Toil
  • 7. Working on a Building
  • 8.What Goes On
  • 9. More Man Than You'll Ever Be (and More Woman Than You'll Ever Get)
  • 10. Little Maggie Morning After
  • 11. Can't You Hear Me Callin'
  • 12. Hanged Man
  • 13. We Kill Evil

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