After more than a decade of releasing comedy albums that were bad, wonderful, unsettling, and hilarious all at the same time, the self-loathing and surreal Neil Hamburger -- "America's $1 Funnyman" -- decided it was time to release a country album. Neil Hamburger Sings Country Winners arrives just as the man's career was going into overdrive with his irregular -- in every sense of the word -- interview show Poolside Chats with Neil Hamburger burning up the Internet while his guest spots on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job were introducing him to the young Adult Swim crowd. Taking full advantage of the momentum, this excellent effort ends up Hamburger's most accessible work to date. With his usual snorts, acid delivery, and lunatic sense of humor, he still stands firmly in the "acquired taste" category, but he's remarkably easier to stomach when surrounded by a backing band that sounds this authentic and well-versed in '60s and '70s country. The bizarre and desolate side of Porter Wagoner's output seems the biggest influence on the album with tracks like "Three Piece Chicken Dinner" ("When his personal life is an estranged wife/And a sullen, ungrateful daughter") and "Please Ask That Clown to Stop Crying" ("I once met a man with no legs/Who asked me to carry him to his grave") making one think Hamburger, or his alter-ego Gregg Turkington, devoured the Omni label's "Mondo Porter" compilation Rubber Room before entering the studio. Wagoner isn't the only well-chosen influence as "How Can I Still Be Patriotic (When They've Taken Away My Right to Cry)" recalls Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler's "Ballad of the Green Berets" with its narration and military snare drum while the cover version of Mark Eitzel's "The Hula Maiden" is performed like an outtake from Marty Robbins' long lost Hawaii's Calling Me album. Helping realize this rustic dream is an amazing band featuring Tubes drummer Prairie Prince, beloved that dog vocalist Rachel Haden, plus the underappreciated Dave Gleason, all of whom have the utmost respect and an obvious fascination for kitsch country the way it used to be. Neil Hamburger Sings Country Winners was an absurdist idea of the highest order the moment that title was born. The end product goes far beyond anything the man's cult could hope for and is arguably the best disturbing country album from a failed and faux lounge comedian that you'll ever find.
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