Wow. Let me just start by saying that. Once again, Knoxville Girls have impressed me. In fact, I think it’s safe to say their second studio album, In A Paper Suit, has captured my undivided attention. I actually have a funny story about this album. Two weeks ago I had to rent a car to get to DC. It had a CD player in it, so before I even pulled out of the Budget Rent-a-Car lot, I popped In a Paper Suit into the player. One hundred and fifty miles later I was still listening to it, as the stereo was on the fritz and wouldn’t eject the disc. The mark of a truly great record is that even after twelve consecutive, non-stop listens, you still love it and wouldn’t mind hearing it again.
One of the things that originally attracted me to Knoxville Girls, and is only reinforced here, is their ability to reinvent country music, transcending a genre that I normally find relatively unappealing. Due in large part to the band members’ disparate backgrounds (coming from such bands as Pussy Galore, Chrome Cranks, Sonic Youth, Gun Club, The Cramps and many others), they pull their influences from punk, rockabilly, Downtown art music and doo-wop as easily as they draw from country. In their cover of "'Neath a Cold Gray Tomb of Stone", we hear more than just Hank Williams -- we hear elements of Nick Cave, Velvet Underground and a weirdness that belongs to the Knoxville Girls alone.
Throughout the album, Jack Martin's guitar is gripping, flawless and twangy to the bone. Jerry Teel's vocals alternate between Big Bopperism, as on "Sophisticated Boom Boom", classic country ("50 Feet High, 50 Feet Down") and just plain weird ("Drop Dead Gorgeous"). The title track, "In A Paper Suit", is the epitome of what Knoxville Girls can do; the keyboards and Kid Congo’s artful guitar create jangly swirls and accents, pulling your attention away and then refocusing it on the simple melodic theme at the center of the song.
I could just listen to this album all day. Oh, wait -- I already have.
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