Cledus T. Judd celebrates his ascension to major-label status on his fifth album by taking on his new labelmates,
the Dixie Chicks, on two songs, "Goodbye Squirrel," which rewrites "Goodbye Earl" into a hunting story, and "Wife Naggin'," a self-explanatory takeoff on "Sin Wagon."
Brad Paisley's "Me Neither" gets transformed into the double entendre "More Beaver," which is nominally about a desire for more reruns of Leave It to Beaver, with help from
Paisley himself on several instruments, and John Anderson sings the choruses of the original song "Momma's Boy," essentially a standup routine set to music. But the cleverest parodies are "My Cellmate Thinks I'm Sexy" (think
Kenny Chesney's "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy"), which discusses the legal difficulties of some country stars, and the deconstruction of
Toby Keith's massive hit "How Do You Like Me Now," reimagined as "How Do You Milk a Cow."
Judd branched out into pop music last time by making fun of
Ricky Martin; this time he ventures into rock by turning
Kid Rock's "Cowboy" into "Plowboy." But he's on firmer ground with his country satires, which are full of asides about
Tim McGraw,
Faith Hill, and
Billy Gilman that country fans will appreciate. As usual, the more familiar you are with the country music scene, the funnier you will find this stuff, but a lot of it works on its own terms. ~ William Ruhlmann