Fever Dreams, the 12th album from Central Texas singer/songwriter/guitarist/footstomper/harmonica player/preacher/hellraiser Scott H. Biram, AKA The Dirty Old One Man Band, is a fervent yet intimate collection of blues, classic country, and rock-n-roll sealed with punk, heavy metal, and frankly, whatever the hell Biram wants. As the man himself told us, "You’re gonna want to pop open a cold tallboy for this one."
Engineered and produced by Scott H. Biram between 2017 and 2019 at his studio Hiram’s Hell Hole, in Austin, TX, Fever Dreams delivers another gritty glimpse into the salty world of roadworn hearts and mismanaged emotions. Honestly laying down his bare soul at the people’s feet once again in a way that very few can, this record dips and sways, as always, in true Biram fashion, with tales of hard, homesick traveling, lost love, overindulgence, spiritual rejoice, and of course some tributes to some of his favorite music pioneers.
On Fever Dreams, The Reverend Biram rakes all the muck out of his spiritual swamp and concocts a meaty stew of lonely soul ("Fever Dreams"), trucker country ("Can't Stay Long"), pummeling punk ("Whatcha Gonna Do?"), drinking dirges ("Drunk Like Me"—*cue second tallboy opening*), and God-fearing (or -facing?) gospel ("Hallelu"), the bright light shining from beneath the cracks in the dive bar floor. Biram's rogues' gallery of characters jump from the speakers to your skull and live rent-free in the psyche. From roadworn renegades to motel room wanderers; drunken demons to haunted-hearted soulsearchers, these are stories of human suffering and revelry that portray the best of us, and in turn, the worst of us. Biram has seen it all, and he's the hero we need to distill it into a blend of straight truth, so it goes easier on the soul and the mind.
Beyond his own iconoclastic words and music, Scott H. Biram takes it back to his own idols at the heart of the album. His fellow Texan troubadour Townes Van Zandt gets a turn in Biram's take on the travelin' tune "The Highway Kind." Right at its heels is a bluesy Screamin'-Jay-Hawkins-style full-band duet with Jesse Dayton in which they tackle infamously enigmatic outlaw David Allen Coe's "Monkey David Wine." Then the duo whips the car around back to the honky tonk with a jukebox-ready spin on Gary Stewart's "Single Again." Justin Collins lays down the beats while Chris Rhoades drops the bass on both tracks. And on the Ray Wylie Hubbard and Hayes Carll-penned "Chickens," SHB takes it into overdrive and peels out into full-on ZZ Top territory. Chicken!
Have you busted into that third tallboy yet?
And then, in the end, Scott H. Biram considers that maybe he shouldn’t have done all that drinking after all in the acoustic-pickin' ballad "Everything Just slips Away." Though it’s still ok if you finished off that last tallboy before the album ended.
Fever Dreams closes with an instrumental reprise of “Can’t Stay Long,” to give you a second to think about what you just listened to, complete with signature Biram big-rig sounds! Now go to bed, you’ve been through a lot!
All instrumentation and vocal performances (save a couple aforementioned guest spots here and there) are done by SHB himself.
Full Bio
Scott H. Biram unleashes a fervent display of conviction through not only the genuine blues, classic country, bluegrass, and rock-n-roll, but he seals the deal with punk, heavy metal, and frankly, anything else he wants to. He’s The Dirty Old One Man Band.
He will still the room with haunting South Texas blues, then turn it upside down, into a truck driver's mosh pit. Like he says, it might be baptism, or it might be murder, either way…you gonna see the light.
This legally ordained preacher’s singing, yodeling, growling, leering and brash preachin' and hollerin' is accompanied by sloppy riffs, and licks literally yanked, one at a time, out of his collection of crusty, worn out, Gibson hollowbody guitars and battle axes. All this held down with a pounding backbeat brought forth by his amplified left foot, and self-customed stomp board. The remainder of this brutally charming one-man-band consists of an unwieldy combination of beat-up amplifiers and old microphones strung together by a tangled mess of guitar cables. Don’t get too close! You gonna get some grease on ya!
Years of compulsive touring, along with a steady diet of down and dirty blues, rock, punk, country, and hillbilly have developed Scott H. Biram's signature concoction, attracting a hefty array of fans who dig the bizarre and twisted sides of the rock-n-roll spectrum. His live shows, performed all over the world, deliver a take-no-prisoners attitude, a stomping, pulsing John Lee Hooker-channeling, and cockeyed tales of black water baptisms and murder, all while romanticizing the on-the-road lifestyle.
SCOTT H. BIRAM IS THE DIRTY OLD ONE MAN BAND. ©1974
(You've likely heard Biram's signature howl & chops in movies and TV like Hell or High Water, Sons of Anarchy, Mayans M.C., Dog the Bounty Hunter, and My Name Is Earl.)
Official Website: Scott H. Biram Online
