Easy Listening For Jerks – Part 2

Carter Family meets Addams Family in Easy Listening for Jerks, two new covers EPs by gold-certified prairie pickers The Dead South. The source material for the EP two-pack sees The Dead South trace very different musical lineages: one a beloved folk songbook and the other a set of volatile modern outsider anthems. Always playing against type, The Dead South flip traditional bluegrass and hard rock conventions upside down, drawing out an ominous, lurking unease in the bright innocence of Bristol Sessions-era sound, and pulling moments of absurdity and hilarity out from the hardcore bluster. Part II, inspired by the band’s own pre-show playlist, includes songs by System of a Down, The Doors, Cold War Kids and The Misfits. The Dead South dust off “People Are Strange,” shedding the lizard skin in favour of an MTV-Unplugged approach. On “Chop Suey,” not a no-brainer for an acoustic band without a drummer, the band transcends the song’s metal origins and doubles up on Scott Pringle’s vocals for a sound as big as the first. Part II also sees the vocal debut of banjoist Colton “Crawdaddy” Crawford, who offers a deadpan rendition of Ween’s “Help Me Scrape The Mucus Off My Brain.” Easy Listening for Jerks are the first releases that see all four members taking lead vocal turns.