T. Tex Edwards & Out On Parole "Pardon Me, I've Got Someone To Kill" 1989 (reissue 2002)***

Now if this cover hasn't convinced you yet, this album probably isn't for you. You may have already gathered that it isn't very sophisticated stuff. On the other hand, if you're expecting comedy you should know that this take on classic country murder ballads may be funny and irreverent as the cover would suggest, but it's no mere parody. The band are well versed in the genre and play it straight while singer T. Tex Edwards' redneck snarl of a delivery may be slightly exaggerated but it's authenticly embedded in his musical DNA. Even when he played with punk rockers The Nervebreakers his Texan cowboy heritage wasn't far beneath the surface. That band had a fearsome live reputation but never released an album and was delegated to a footnote of the rock history books for supporting The Sex Pistols during their suicidal tour of the Southern United States. Just as well, because this left Tex free to delve into the darkest corners of country music and come up with a collection of the most twisted country murder songs not written by Johnny Cash. Tex and his band the aptly named Out On Parole never try to give a punk or rock spin on the songs, just slightly raise the camp value by accentuating the hillbilly factor. The album opens with the straight honky tonk country of Wynn Stewart's "I'm a Gonna' Kill You" and contains similar fare by Johnny Paycheck ("Pardon Me I've Got Someone To Kill"), Port Wagoner ("The Cold Hard Facts of Life", the waltzy "Rubber Room") and Eddie Noack ("Dolores" and "Psycho"). The latter has been a favourite of mine ever since I heard the amazing Beasts Of Bourbon version, featuring that other Tex, Aussie and former Nick Cave collaborator Tex Perkins. By the way, I can totally imagine Cave listening to this album and going "Cool idea! I should make a whole album of murder ballads, too!" Former Fuzztone Rudi Protrudi must have been listening to Edwards too, as he knicked a few songs for his own country album "L.S.D. Made a Wreck Outta Me" - including the title track originally by Wendell Austin. A couple of rockabilly tunes lively up the collection (Leon Bass' "Country Hix", The Travellin' Texans' "Beatin' on the Bars" and "You Ain't Gonna Live..."), while there's also the swinging violin and twanging guitar of "Smitty", Lee Hazlewood's dramatic ballad "The Girl on Death Row" and the spoken word "Strangler In The Night" a novelty single credited to the infamous Boston Strangler Albert Desalvo. The original album was released by Sympathy For The Record Industry in the U.S. and New Rose in Europe. This 2002 reissue appends a contemporary recording by Tex and The Affordable Caskets, Howard Crockett's "Last Will And Testimony Of A Drinking Man". The album is a fun listening and a good introduction to some cult country artists. You won't regret adding it to your collection.

**** for L.S.D. Made a Wreck Outta' Me, The Girl on Death Row, Psycho, Smitty, Beatin' on the Bars, The Rubber Room

*** for I'm a Gonna' Kill You, (Pardon Me) I've Got Someone to Kill, You Ain't Never Gonna' Live to Love Saturday Night Again, The Cold Hard Facts of Life, Country Hixes, Last Will and Testimony (Of a Drinking Man)

** for Dolores, Strangler in the Night