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Like Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Th' Legendary Shack Shakers before them Strawfoot are outlaws. These Missourians are musical rustlers unafraid to plunder from americana, rock, blues or bluegrass... whatever it takes to make a great song. Here they've created not just one great song but an entire album's worth.
I'm not sure how Strawfoot got saddled with the label "dirge country". True, this is a dark set of songs. While "Chasing Locusts" may be dark it is rarely down. Not a single recording drags and there is too much danger, too much menace lurking here for this CD to be a collection of dirges. It has too much attitude to be anything but a sinister revival. So let's just drop the "dirge", what Strawfoot are is Country. When you hear the term Country Strawfoot are the type of artist you should think of, not that watered down pop that seeps out of "Nashville".
No, this album doesn't drag (unless it's to drag a river looking for bodies). It's generally a breakneck barnstormer/barnburner that should make you want to take a spin around the room with your best beloved in your arms. Though you should probably leave one hand free to hold your drink.
Ah, love and liquor. As with any great Country album love and loss (and how to deal with both) are the corner stones of the songs. Like the founding fathers of outlaw acoustics Strawfoot have tales of love and it's consequences aplenty. Murder, heresy, revenge... this is practically a blueprint for America. This exploration of the unsettled can be found in the best Country albums, and they can be found here.
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Strawfoot
http://www.myspace.com/strawfoot
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