Red Dirt

Digital

This is a match made in heaven (or at least the coolest corner of hell).

14 country-SOUL smokers slathered in grit and grease and Andre's high-mileage, velvety growl, with sexy booty bottom provided by Toronto's masters of spaghetti western-surf-garage-punk, The Sadies

Full Description

O.K. sugarbabies; are you sitting down? Well, get your asses up and prepare to shake the proverbial tailfeather--because Andre "Mr Rhythm" Williams is BACK and he's baaaaaad!! Bloodshot Records is pleased, nay, honored to bring you this platter: Red Dirt, 14 country-SOUL smokers slathered in grit and grease and Andre's high-mileage, velvety growl, with sexy booty bottom provided by Toronto's masters of spaghetti western-surf-garage-punk, The Sadies. This is a menage a trois made in heaven (or leastways the coolest corner of hell):

Andre + Sadies = L.U.V.!!!

Check it out, chilluns: a passle of cover tunes---from the likes of the Bottle Rockets, ("Queen of the World), Johnny Cash/Ray Charles ("Busted"), Lefty Frizzell ("I'm An Old, Old Man"), a chilling version of the Leon Payne bizarro tale of tragedy and murder "Psycho" (also covered by Elvis Costello and the Beasts of Bourbon," and a Katy-run-for-cover version of Johnny Paycheck's "Pardon Me, I've Got Someone to Kill"—sung like he means it), and a tasty array of brand spankin' new originals co-birthed by Andre and the Sadies. There's the slinky slayer "Weapon of Mass Destruction" (you know you got it, ladies), the everyman lament "My Sister Stole My Woman," and the insidiously catchy "She's A Bag of Potato Chips." And only Andre can come up with a couplet like "Hey Truckers, bad mother....," well, you can guess the rest (from "Hey Truckers").

Recorded and produced in Detroit MI during the New Year's Day blizzard of 1999 by Jim Diamond (White Stripes, Gore Gore Girls, Dirtbombs, Volebeats, Electric Six, etc...), no one was able to leave the building for 4 days. They all went quite insane.

This record's got it all, babies!!! It'll get you up on the down stroke, it's got Memphis Stax/Volt soul grooves, it's got Johnny Cash boom-chicka-ka-BOOM, it's got Screamin' Jay gospel menace, it's got smooth, "how ya doin, ladies?", crooning, and it's got, well, Andre-ance. He even rhymes "cash" with "ass" and makes it work!!! All of this is tenderized and infused with groove gravy for a finger-lickin' good time.

Time to EAT!!

Short Description

Williams has an urgent, get nasty way of singing, and the Sadies are with him every bumpin', grinding, burning-whiskey-down-a-cheatin'- man's-throat moment. This record is worth it just for his version of the country freakout "Psycho," alone.

— Ink 19
Not for everyone, but perversely likable.

— Amazon.com
Williams and the Sadies meet figuratively in Memphis and find much more in common that perhaps either of them originally thought. Hearing Williams' gut-wrenching soul singing paired with the mournful pedal steel and fiddle of the Sadies makes country-soul not an oxymoron, but a consummation.

— Exclaim
One listen to Williams' sobering, bad-assed Johnny Paycheck cover informs the listener of his truly gritty intentions ... and the playing behind Williams' stylings is certainly tasty—it's practically a primer for anyone who wants to learn real greasy country blues.

— Rockpile