| The Gourds |
| Written by Mike Sheahan | |
 THE GOURDSHaymaker! Yep Roc Records (Release Date: 1/6/09) In boxing terms a haymaker is a big, loping punch intended to deliver the knockout. It’s hard to say exactly where in The Gourds latest release the big blow comes, but by the end of the disc it’s easy to feel like you’ve been knocked around a bit. In that regard, Haymaker! has an immediate and organic quality that makes the album feel a lot like a Gourds concert. The only things missing really are the second-hand smoke and the drunk chick in the back screaming for “Gin-n-Juice” between every song. From the first track everything there is to love about a Gourds record is here. “Country Love” is loose (with a false start and everything), features meandering accordion lines, steel guitar and mandolin fills, and lyrics that set the tone for the party that follows. From there, Haymaker! is full of little gems that will surely show up on college radio playlists across the country. “Fossil Contender” could be a bona fide radio hit if it weren’t, well, called “Fossil Contender,” and a song about archeologists. But then The Gourds were never much for traditional storytelling in their songs. For example, “Luddite Juice” tells the story of one early nineteenth century anti-modernist who, while in jail, performs his own tooth extraction. Like that old story isn’t tired by now, right? Thing is, it’s catchy as hell with an insistent beat and Stax-Volt keys. This should come as no surprise to Gourds fans; oddball lyrics have long been the calling card of songwriter Jimmy Smith, and The Gourds boast a sort of counterpoint in the songs of Kevin Russell. Lyrically more straightforward but musically no less adventurous, Russell provides some of the album’s strongest cuts. There is the aforementioned leadoff “Country Love” and the truck drivin’ rocker “Shreveport.” Nestled in the final third of Haymaker! It is at once hilarious and moving, with lines about Geddy Lee and “hair-do boys and their spandex britches.” Russell’s wordplay may be a bit more linear that Smith’s, but it’s no less affecting or poetic; in “Country Gal” he describes a beauty surrounded by her friends as “a ruby rolling around in a bucketful of dimes.” Ultimately, though, it’s the music that makes Haymaker! so much fun. Nearly impossible to describe accurately, fans just call it “Gourds music.” They are their own genre. You’ve heard all these instruments before: banjo, fiddle, mandolin, keys, about six kinds of guitar, even a little accordion. What The Gourds do with those instruments is not exactly radical, but it is entirely their own. Fans know what that means, after you’ve heard Haymaker! you’ll know too. |