A rootsy heartfelt cross-pollination of bluegrass, folk, country, and rockabilly, All Relationships Are Doomed To Fail is just as the title suggest: a fiery collection of another-somebody-done-me-wrong songs. However, the Meat Purveyors discover that misery loves company, and though the tales of romance turned sour are steeped in despair, the band plays on with a spirited devil-may-care attitude. Lead vocalist Jo Walston is at the center of the emotional mayhem, with a sexy delivery that cracks and breaks into a falsetto at each dramatic twist. Cherilyn Dimond's slap acoustic bass holds down the fort whilst guitarist Bill Anderson along with Pete Stiles on mandolin and Darcie Deville on fiddle, shake, rattle and roll as if their lives depended on it. Circus Clown is a tearjerker about a jerk and the wry word-play of "Thinking About Drinking," which proclaims "when I not drinking, I'm thinking about drinking, and when I'm not thinking I'm drinking about you" serves poetic justice to the one-night-stands and those who've faced closing time all alone. When it comes to pickin' and grinnin' the Meat Purveyors are the real deal on All Relationships.... ~ Tom Semioli