***SOUTHERN CULTUREON THE SKIDS”Dirt Track Date” Geffen*Racetracks,...

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SOUTHERN CULTURE

ON THE SKIDS

“Dirt Track Date”

Geffen

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Racetracks, fried chicken and voodoo Cadillacs make up Southern Culture on the Skids’ major-label debut. The North Carolina trio, which has released three previous albums (and several singles and EPs) on a variety of independent labels, has fueled its decade-plus career singing the praises of white-trash culture. Sure, it’s kitschy and fun, but what’s kept the band going is its ability to put good music and clever lyrics behind all the irony.

“Dirt Track Date” is no exception. Guitarist Rick Miller yodels about the beauty of an “8 Piece Box” (a reference to KFC, not some kind of gangsta slang) over a surf-meets-hillbilly tune. Elsewhere is plenty more similarly reeling rockabilly and corny country. And what would a good white-trash album be without a soothing hula tune? Well, the band provides that, too, with “Make Mayan a Hawaiian.”

It’s not clear what Geffen was thinking when it signed this Southern underground club-scene fixture, because it’s unlikely that “Dirt Track” will rake in the big bucks. Maybe, on a whim, some exec just decided to loosen up and have a little fun. If that’s the case, he got the right band.