Weapons Of Grass Destruction / Holidays In the Sun / I Don’t Feel Like Dancing / Devil Woman / She Was Skinny When I Met Her / Strawberry Fields Forever / Before Your Old Man Gets Home / Breaking the Law/ More Pretty Girls Than One / Down Down / Walking Cane / Paint It Black / Hungover Brokedown / Poison

COOKING VINYL

Whilst an unmistakably superb live experience and an initially funny idea, Hayseed Dixie are a band for whom the joke is now wearing very thin to say the least.  Putting a bluegrass spin on their favourite songs, this is a band now releasing their seventh studio album with very little in the way of new ideas or inspirations.

WEAPONS OF GRASS DESTRUCTION sees Hayseed Dixie putting their usual bluegrass spin on the likes of the Scissor Sisters, Cliff Richard, Judas Priest and The Beatles with the usual country results.  Songs like Richards DEVIL WOMAN and the Scissor Sisters I DON'T FEEL LIKE DANCIN' are predictable sounding affairs full of duelling banjos, bluegrass guitar shuffles and deep south vocalising.  The self penned songs on offer here hardly do the bands many favours either, the likes of HUNGOVER BROKEDOWN and THE RIDER SONG faintly embarrassing affairs that grow tired after the first listen.

Of the few minor highlights here, HOLIDAYS IN THE SUN is a surprisingly tender and restrained version of the song that almost warms you to their cause, though the ironic asides and winks to the camera soon remind you of the novelty factor at play here.  Whilst versions of PAINT IT BLACK and POISON are spirited calls to arms that at the very least point towards the raucous spirit of the live shows.

On the whole, another predictable and frankly dull sounding aside from Hayseed Dixie, WEAPONS OF GRASS DESTRUCTION finds the band still banging out the same old joke, one that grew tired and old long ago.

The liner notes from the first Hayseed Dixie album, "A Hillbilly Tribute To AC/DC," give us the story from the beginning:

"From the fertile valley of Deer Lick Holler, deep in the heart of Appalachia, comes a sound that is old yet new. In an area completely isolated from outside cultural and musical influence, this band of acoustic musicians grew up playing the traditional music of their forefathers. Then, as fate would have it, one crisp fall afternoon, a stranger passed through the holler. Well, he almost made it through. Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for appreciators of great music worldwide, the stranger crashed his car into a stately old oak tree at Devil's Elbow Curve. Sadly, the stranger expired, but his legacy lives on. For under the back seat of his car, the boys found some old black vinyl records as they went through his belongings looking for identification. All they had to listen to them on was an old Edison Victrola that only played at 78 R.P.M., but the boys all agreed it was some mighty fine country music. So, in memory of the stranger who had perished the boys set about learning these songs . . . "

The records in the car, of course, were by the band AC/DC. And the boys recorded an album of the songs in their own mountain / bluegrass style - with fiddle, mandolin, banjo and such. As singer, guitar & fiddle player Barley Scotch says:

"Yeah . . . so when we was first listening to those records . . . I mean, it became REVEALED to me - that the Lost Highway of Brother Hank Williams and that Highway to Hell them boys was singing about . . . well, I KNEW: they're the same damn road!

The band performed over 300 live dates from 2001 through the end of 2003, sold over 200,000 copies of the album worldwide, and appeared on every major morning radio show in the US and Australia. Many people began asking Barley Scotch - "What's next?"

Reverend Don Wayne Reno - Banjo

Deacon Dale Reno - Mandolin

Feeling the need to plough some fresh fertile fields, the boys began to focus on getting to Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland . . . hell, Europe as well . . . in 2004. Thus, August 2, 2004 saw the release of "Let There Be Rockgrass" in the UK and Europe. And the first UK tour took place, and despite the fact that people in the UK drive on the wrong side of the road, it was a greater success than anyone could have imagined. As fate would have it, the folks on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean liked drinking, cheating, killing and hell almost as much as the folks from Appalachia. The full spectrum of hell was raised. Rockgrass was now an international phenomena. The band played over 200 dates in the UK and Europe in 2005 and 2006.

As April 9, 2007 sees the release of a new album, appropriately titled “Weapons of Grass Destruction,” and a new world tour as well, Barley Scotch says, "We ain't even started drinking yet. We've just been on a recon mission so far. Now we know where the party people around the world are, and we're coming back to close the deal." A promise, no doubt.

Appalachian hell-raisers Hayseed Dixie will be releasing two download only tracks, I DON'T FEEL LIKE DANCING and HOLIDAYS IN THE SUN on Monday 12th March.  Both tracks are taking from the band's forthcoming new album, WEAPONS OF GRASS DESTRUCTION (released 9th April), which features Hayseed's own material, alongside their unique interpretations of songs by the likes of Judas Priest, Status Quo and Cliff Richard, amongst others.

Below, Barley Scotch explains why the band chose to Dixie-ize these well known songs:

I DON'T FEEL LIKE DANCIN': The band heard Jeremy Vine play this song in November and thought it sounded like the Bee Gees and Elton John getting together and singing a song about unrequited love for George Michael.  Turns out Elton co-wrote the song, so maybe that's exactly what it is.  Our version was aimed more at the guitar player from The Donnas or maybe Lily Allen, but we like women...

HOLIDAYS IN THE SUN: I miss the Cold War.  I think we all do really.  At least back then everyone had a clear and distinct picture of who was trying to whoop who.  The Berlin wall was the concrete (literally) symbol of this certainty, and this song sums up the longing for those times of old quite perfectly.

HAYSEED DIXIE

Highway To Hell

You Shook Me All Night Long

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Hell's Bells

Moneytalks

Let's Get It Up

Have a Drink On Me

T.N.T.

Back In Black

Big Balls

A HILLBILLY TRIBUTE TO MOUNTAIN LOVE

My Best Friend's Girl

Centerfold

Walk This Way

Feel Like Making Love

The Perfect Woman (original)

I Love Rock & Roll

Fat Bottom Girls

Big Bottom

Cat Scratch Fever

I'm Keeping Your Poop (original)

KISS MY GRASS - A HILLBILLY TRIBUTE TO KISS

Calling Dr. Love

Rock & Roll All Nite

Detroit Rock City

Cold Gin

Let's Put the X in Sex

Love Gun

Lick It Up

I Love It Loud

Christine Sixteen

Heaven's On Fire

A HOT PIECE OF GRASS

Black Dog

War Pigs

Holiday

Ace of Spades

Whole Lotta Love

Whole Lotta Rosie

Runnin' With the Devil

Blind Beggar Breakdown

Kirby Hill

Mountain Man

Marijuana

Corn Liquor

Moonshiner's Daughter

Dueling Banjos

I DON'T FEEL LIKE DANCIN' / HOLIDAYS IN THE SUN (Cooking Vinyl>2007)

I Don't Feel Like Dancin'

HOLIDAYS IN THE SUN (Cooking Vinyl>2007)

Weapons Of Grass Destruction

Holidays In the Sun

I Don’t Feel Like Dancing

Devil Woman

She Was Skinny When I Met Her

Strawberry Fields Forever

Before Your Old Man Gets Home

Breaking the Law

More Pretty Girls Than One

Down Down

Walking Cane

Paint It Black

Hungover Brokedown

Poison

The Rider Song

Barley Scotch

Reverend Don Wayne Reno

Deacon Dale Reno

Jake “Bakesnake” Byers

Hayseed Dixie>www.hayseed-dixie.com

Scissor Sisters

Sex Pistols

Twang