North Carolina's Chicken Wire Gang have been running around like chickens with their heads cut off for over ten years now. They have been playing live at least since 1992; the unusual thing about this is that they have never released an album -- that is, until now. The gang has corralled a great set of 12 tunes, ranging from the Tex-Mex swing of "Grande Mamoo" to the cowboy-tune-meets-polka "Rooftops." It's a nonstop sampling of influences and instrumentation that includes accordion, yes, accordion, in the mix of honky-tonk piano, bass, drums, and guitars.
It's a special kind of challenge to describe this four-man band from Chapel Hill. They are like a group of gypsies with blues, rock, jazz, country, R&B, Texan, swing, big band, and funk influences -- think
Zappa meets
Firesign Theatre and
the Flying Burrito Brothers. Well, maybe not. You could just label them "fresh eggs." One of the most amusing tracks has to be the garage-band tune "E.N.N.A.," a song with a heavy '60s organ sound and a pop melody combined with a dose of retro-punk. But the top of the wire is the band's rendition of
Rick Rock's '80s indie hit, "Buddah, Buddah." Only the Chicken Wire Gang would follow that pop-tart with a song about Carolina mud called "Red Clay," set to a blues-jazz piano riff, and an old, gospel-country tune called "Sail Away," backed by the scratchy sound of a needle pressing on a worn vinyl record. Very cool. ~ Michael B. Smith