Lock up your daughters and cover up your wives! Those Legendary ShackShakers are crawling out of the swamp with their third and final installment in their “Tentshow Trilogy” series. A final installment that might be the best album they have ever released. Inspired by the good Colonel J.D. Wilkes’ new home somewhere in West Kentucky, Swampblood embraces a toned down more-blues/less-polka sound for much of the album. Longtime fans need not worry, there is still plenty dirty harmonica-fied, amped to 11, dixie-core there to appease you, however, this album seems to show just how talented these four guys really are. The first time my wife listened to the cd she said, “It’s like they finally decided to be great instead of just awesome.” That’s as good a way to put it as any. From the opening banjo of “Dawn” that gives way to the thump of Mark Robertson’s stand-up bass, spiced with that harmonica of “Old Spur Line,” you can tell things, while familiar, are just a little different this time around. Lyrically, well…I’ll just quote J.D. on that one:

Lyrically speaking, Swampblood lures you into a whole new realm of southern gothic goings-on. It is a cruel place, populated by three-legged dogs, lynch mobs and fallen forests…lustful angels, bloodthirsty hill-folk, and the bloated bodies of beached bovines.

Waterlogged corpses bob in the flooded streets of yore…crossed-eyed grannies pluck tuneless banjers…pigs run around with no clothes on.

Oddly enough, much of the lyrical reportage of Swampblood is based in truth. That’s the scary part. The local legends I was told as a troubled kid are passed on like some weird mix of classic oral tradition and primal scream therapy…The Brothers Grimm meet Sigmund Freud.

And it is that very penchant for words that you see above that makes his songs so god damned much fun…

So, you’ve heard of the Shack Shakers and you’ve read about the glorious pandemonium that is a Shack Shaker show, but you’ve never actually *heard* the Shack Shakers? Well, this is as good a time as any to jump into the greasy cesspool that is THE Legendary Shack Shakers. Not only are you gonna hear what might be their best album to date….you may be listening to the best album of 2007.

The Legendary Shack Shakers - Old Spur Line
The Legendary Shack Shakers - Swampblood
The Legendary Shack Shakers - Hellwater

The Legendary Shack Shakers Official Site, LSS on myspace, Buy Swampblood


As a side note: J.D. Wilke’s film Seven Signs has officially wrapped and is set to head out on the festival circuit. You can bet your willy that there will ba a review of the movie posted on this here site the day after I get to see it…Which will be….I dunno….one day, I suppose. Here is the trailer: