deadnecks - Tornados & Trailers

No Blowhards Here

Tornados and Trailers (klowneconds)

deadnecks

By Tracy Connell

You know you ‘re a redneck if..." Tornados and Trailers is the custom-made soundtrack of your life. The 1998 release from the popular Lexington band the deadnecks reveals a slice of life seldom seen inside of the city limits.

Song writers Karl Richards and Skip Bethune are master storytellers who weave tales of living, loving and leaving with wit and humor. Backing it up is Southern-fried music that tends to slip south of the border on occasion.

The upbeat party tune "Burnin' Down" sets the stage while immortalizing living life on the edge. "Love and a .45" and "Another Empty Bottle" paint a portrait of going over that edge or stumbling off of it, respectively.

The title track makes one ponder the perennial question ... "What has God got against rednecks?/ How come tornados love trailer parks?" Not that the deadnecks have an answer either, but they certainly recognize the irony.

A slow ballad about tracking down a lover that has left, "Crystal Marie," tugs at your heart strings. "I can tell she's been through here by the trail of tears/ and all the longnecks and long faces at the bar." A highlight on this song -and a few others are the vocals of Kim Berryman.

The moving "Shed a Tear" will hold up to anyone's standards. Skip Bcthune's vocals are reminiscent of a young Johnny Cash; it sounds like a classic.

lt's clear that the deadnecks have not sold out and are making the music that they want to make. This CD is not for everyone - it wasn't meant to be.