5328

5328 - SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB - Unentitled (2011)

SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB
FEATURING JOHN ROBERT RUMLEY
''UNENTITLED''
2011
42:39

1. Three Bloodhounds Two Shepherds One Fila Brasileiro /5:20
2. The Unballed Ballad Of The New Folksinger /4:11
3. Thy Will Be Done /4:01
4. No Doubt About It /3:11
5. Do You Know Thee Enemy? /4:28
6. A Smashing Indictment Of Character /4:55
7. My Last Black Scarf /3:43
8. Hallelujah Anyway /7:06
9. United Brethren /5:45

BIOGRAPHY
by Erik Hage
Slim Cessna's Auto Club play country gospel with a fervor that seems to emanate from a punk pulpit. The group's leader, Slim Cessna, a tall, lanky gentleman with a gold tooth and large white hat, sings in a high-lonesome voice and yodel, and "preaches" with conviction. (Sample sentiment from "Last Song About Satan": "So I said, Lucifer you piece of sh*t/I should kick your ass right where you sit.../My mother cries because of you.") The group released its self-titled debut in 1995; the album was tweaked and reissued in September 2001. By the time of 2000's Always Say Please and Thank You (released on the Jello Biafra punk label Alternative Tentacles), Auto Club's lineup included Danny Pants, Reverend Dwight Pentacost, Jay Munly (who has released records as Munly De Har He), John Rumley (who builds instruments at the Denver Folklore Center), and Ordy Garrison. Despite the fact that Cessna moved to his wife's home state of Rhode Island and Pentacost took up residence in Chicago, the band remained Denver-based, performing there regularly. In 2004 the group released The Bloudy Tenant Truth Peace, followed by 2005's Jesus Let Me Down (which came out on Smooch Records) and Cipher (back on Alternative Tentacles) in 2008. A collection of eight rarities and outtakes by the group titled Buried Behind the Barn was released in 2010. Unentitled was scheduled for a 2011 release.
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5327

5327 - SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB - Buried Behind The Barn (2010)

SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB
''BURIED BEHIND THE BARN''
2004
29:06

1. Cranston /3:18
2. Port Authority Band /3:38
3. Angel /2:34
4. Thirteen Crimes /4:52
5. Shady Lane /3:48
6. Jackson /2:58
7. Sister's Husband /5:42
8. Earthquake /2:30

BIOGRAPHY
by Erik Hage
Slim Cessna's Auto Club play country gospel with a fervor that seems to emanate from a punk pulpit. The group's leader, Slim Cessna, a tall, lanky gentleman with a gold tooth and large white hat, sings in a high-lonesome voice and yodel, and "preaches" with conviction. (Sample sentiment from "Last Song About Satan": "So I said, Lucifer you piece of sh*t/I should kick your ass right where you sit.../My mother cries because of you.") The group released its self-titled debut in 1995; the album was tweaked and reissued in September 2001. By the time of 2000's Always Say Please and Thank You (released on the Jello Biafra punk label Alternative Tentacles), Auto Club's lineup included Danny Pants, Reverend Dwight Pentacost, Jay Munly (who has released records as Munly De Har He), John Rumley (who builds instruments at the Denver Folklore Center), and Ordy Garrison. Despite the fact that Cessna moved to his wife's home state of Rhode Island and Pentacost took up residence in Chicago, the band remained Denver-based, performing there regularly. In 2004 the group released The Bloudy Tenant Truth Peace, followed by 2005's Jesus Let Me Down (which came out on Smooch Records) and Cipher (back on Alternative Tentacles) in 2008. A collection of eight rarities and outtakes by the group titled Buried Behind the Barn was released in 2010. Unentitled was scheduled for a 2011 release.
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5297 - SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB - Cipher (2008)

SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB
''CIPHER''
MARCH 25 2008
56:05

1. An Introduction To The Power Of Braces - Arms /1:17
2. This Land Is Our Land Redux /4:22
3. All About The Bullfrog In Three Verses /3:42
4. Americadio /4:12
5. An Introduction To The Power Of Braces - Legs /1:24
6. Children Of The Lord /4:21
7. Scac 101 /4:27
8. Ladies In The Know /2:31
9. Magalina Hagalina Boom Boom /3:51
10. An Introduction To The Power Of Braces - Teeth /1:06
11. Jesus Is In My Body - My Body Has Let Me Down /5:18
12. Red Pirate Of The Prairie /3:52
13. Everyone Is Guilty #2 /7:04
14. An Introduction To The Power Of Braces - Faith /1:25
15. That Fierce Cow Is Common Sense In A Country Dress /7:13

REVIEW
by Marisa Brown
Slim Cessna's Auto Club, the country-punk band who've been spreading their gospel of tongue-in-cheek hellfire since the early '90s, return to Alternative Tentacles for their fifth studio full-length, Cipher. As per usual, the album is a kind of puritanical sermon on good and evil, God and the Devil, combined with a Western lawlessness that can be nearly chilling at times. Slim's the main singer here, his half-crazed voice like one of a man who's been pushed too far one too many times, leading the way through the songs of sin and condemnation, women and whiskey, with only a very few hints at redemption. Slim's god is a vengeful one, as ready to punish as he is save. The momentously creepy "Jesus Is in My Body: My Body Has Let Me Down" tells the story of a destructive apocalypse, while "Everyone Is Guilty #2" goes from asking to open for Jesus ("your name still would draw a crowd/It would help our careers if we could warm up your show") to a menacing break in which the vocalist drawls out accusations and demands that Jesus take responsibility for them. The band doesn't let anyone else off the hook, either, naming, in the recurring "Introduction to the Power of Braces," the ways in which their own faith has bent and how they will attempt to straighten it, or listing off specific sinners -- themselves included -- in "Children of the Lord." The Auto Club play with familiar themes, like their take on Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" (itself a borrowed melody), called "This Land Is Our Land Redux," a near-violent demand to take back the country from what it's become, while the aforementioned "Children of the Lord" plays off the Sunday school song "Rise and Shine." There's a dark liveliness, a rebelliousness to the music, one that Slim Cessna has always exhibited, shown not only in the lyrics and vocal inflection but in the instrumentation, which is sprawling and tight at the same time, electric and acoustic, and the entire effect of which is absolutely captivating.

BIOGRAPHY
by Erik Hage
Slim Cessna's Auto Club play country gospel with a fervor that seems to emanate from a punk pulpit. The group's leader, Slim Cessna, a tall, lanky gentleman with a gold tooth and large white hat, sings in a high-lonesome voice and yodel, and "preaches" with conviction. (Sample sentiment from "Last Song About Satan": "So I said, Lucifer you piece of sh*t/I should kick your ass right where you sit.../My mother cries because of you.") The group released its self-titled debut in 1995; the album was tweaked and reissued in September 2001. By the time of 2000's Always Say Please and Thank You (released on the Jello Biafra punk label Alternative Tentacles), Auto Club's lineup included Danny Pants, Reverend Dwight Pentacost, Jay Munly (who has released records as Munly De Har He), John Rumley (who builds instruments at the Denver Folklore Center), and Ordy Garrison. Despite the fact that Cessna moved to his wife's home state of Rhode Island and Pentacost took up residence in Chicago, the band remained Denver-based, performing there regularly. In 2004 the group released The Bloudy Tenant Truth Peace, followed by 2005's Jesus Let Me Down (which came out on Smooch Records) and Cipher (back on Alternative Tentacles) in 2008. A collection of eight rarities and outtakes by the group titled Buried Behind the Barn was released in 2010. Unentitled was scheduled for a 2011 release.
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5296 - SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB - Jesus Let Me Down, Disc Two (2005)

SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB
''JESUS LET ME DOWN, DISC TWO''
OCTOBER 17 2006
84:28

DISC ONE
1. This Is How We Do Things In The Country /5:27
2. 32 Mouths Gone Dry /4:07
3. Cranston /3:24
4. Mark Of Vaccination /4:40
5. Pine Box /5:37
6. Jesus Christ /5:53
7. Thorny Crown /3:21
8. Mother's Daughter /3:51
9. Providence, New Jerusalem /6:13
10. Goddamn Blue Yodel #7 /3:49
11. Port Authority Band /4:00

DISC TWO
1. Jesus Is In My Body /5:57
2. Hold My Head /6:28
3. Unto The Day /5:43
4. Ladies In The Know /2:53
5. Lethal Injection /3:29
6. He, Roger Williams /9:36

BIOGRAPHY
by Erik Hage
Slim Cessna's Auto Club play country gospel with a fervor that seems to emanate from a punk pulpit. The group's leader, Slim Cessna, a tall, lanky gentleman with a gold tooth and large white hat, sings in a high-lonesome voice and yodel, and "preaches" with conviction. (Sample sentiment from "Last Song About Satan": "So I said, Lucifer you piece of sh*t/I should kick your ass right where you sit.../My mother cries because of you.") The group released its self-titled debut in 1995; the album was tweaked and reissued in September 2001. By the time of 2000's Always Say Please and Thank You (released on the Jello Biafra punk label Alternative Tentacles), Auto Club's lineup included Danny Pants, Reverend Dwight Pentacost, Jay Munly (who has released records as Munly De Har He), John Rumley (who builds instruments at the Denver Folklore Center), and Ordy Garrison. Despite the fact that Cessna moved to his wife's home state of Rhode Island and Pentacost took up residence in Chicago, the band remained Denver-based, performing there regularly. In 2004 the group released The Bloudy Tenant Truth Peace, followed by 2005's Jesus Let Me Down (which came out on Smooch Records) and Cipher (back on Alternative Tentacles) in 2008. A collection of eight rarities and outtakes by the group titled Buried Behind the Barn was released in 2010. Unentitled was scheduled for a 2011 release.
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5295 - SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB - Jesus Let Me Down, Disc One (2005)

SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB
''JESUS LET ME DOWN, DISC ONE''
OCTOBER 17 2006
84:28

DISC ONE
1. This Is How We Do Things In The Country /5:27
2. 32 Mouths Gone Dry /4:07
3. Cranston /3:24
4. Mark Of Vaccination /4:40
5. Pine Box /5:37
6. Jesus Christ /5:53
7. Thorny Crown /3:21
8. Mother's Daughter /3:51
9. Providence, New Jerusalem /6:13
10. Goddamn Blue Yodel #7 /3:49
11. Port Authority Band /4:00

DISC TWO
1. Jesus Is In My Body /5:57
2. Hold My Head /6:28
3. Unto The Day /5:43
4. Ladies In The Know /2:53
5. Lethal Injection /3:29
6. He, Roger Williams /9:36

BIOGRAPHY
by Erik Hage
Slim Cessna's Auto Club play country gospel with a fervor that seems to emanate from a punk pulpit. The group's leader, Slim Cessna, a tall, lanky gentleman with a gold tooth and large white hat, sings in a high-lonesome voice and yodel, and "preaches" with conviction. (Sample sentiment from "Last Song About Satan": "So I said, Lucifer you piece of sh*t/I should kick your ass right where you sit.../My mother cries because of you.") The group released its self-titled debut in 1995; the album was tweaked and reissued in September 2001. By the time of 2000's Always Say Please and Thank You (released on the Jello Biafra punk label Alternative Tentacles), Auto Club's lineup included Danny Pants, Reverend Dwight Pentacost, Jay Munly (who has released records as Munly De Har He), John Rumley (who builds instruments at the Denver Folklore Center), and Ordy Garrison. Despite the fact that Cessna moved to his wife's home state of Rhode Island and Pentacost took up residence in Chicago, the band remained Denver-based, performing there regularly. In 2004 the group released The Bloudy Tenant Truth Peace, followed by 2005's Jesus Let Me Down (which came out on Smooch Records) and Cipher (back on Alternative Tentacles) in 2008. A collection of eight rarities and outtakes by the group titled Buried Behind the Barn was released in 2010. Unentitled was scheduled for a 2011 release.
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5250 - SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB - The Bloudy Tenent Truth And Peace (2004)

SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB
''THE BLOUDY TENENT TRUTH AND PEACE''
AUGUST 10 2004
46:01

1/This Is How We Do Things in the Country/5:10
2/Thorny Crown/3:08
3/32 Mouths Gone Dry/4:00
4/Cranston/3:18
5/Mark of Vaccination/4:30
6/Jackson's Hole/2:27
7/Shady Lane/3:41
8/Sour Patch Kids/3:56
9/Port Authority Band/3:45
10/Providence, New Jerusalem/6:06
11/He, Roger Williams/6:00
All Tracks By Slim Cessna's Auto Club

REVIEW
by Hal Horowitz
Like a backwoods Pentecostal preacher on a bender, Denver's Slim Cessna's Auto Club careens around their third release with a whisky bottle in one fist and a bible in the other. Songs like "Jesus Christ," "Water Into Wine," and "Unto the Day" seem sober enough upon first glance, but in the hands of this crew, looks are deceiving. Mixing generous helpings of spaghetti Western tremeloed guitar, country & western, hillbilly, bluegrass, and even klezmer into their gospelized rock & roll, Slim and his band walk hand in hand with the devil and Jesus, seemingly unsure of which they're most comfortable with. Themes of redemption and damnation sit side by side here. With his hyperactive, trembling Stan Ridgway-styled vocals and an arsenal of acoustic instruments including banjo, harmonium, pedal steel, auto harp, fiddle, and accordion, Cessna howls, pants, and most stunningly yodels (especially in the appropriately titled "Goddamn Blue Yodel #7") his odes of sin and salvation as if hellhounds are nipping on his trail. Waltz time dirges alternate with double-time barn burners like "Last Song About Satan," a sort of "Devil Went Down to Georgia" story that, with lyrics like "Lucifer you piece of sh--, I should kick your ass right where you sit," won't be hitting number one in the Bible belt regardless of its fire and brimstone intentions. Not that these fellas will be thumping their Good Books in a church near you. Even when they sound sincere, there's a subtle yet incisive tongue-in-cheek attitude here that throws questions of their seriousness in the air, only aided by band members who cloak themselves in names like Danny Pants and Dwight Pentacost. The spiritual band for people who hate spiritual bands, Slim Cessna's Auto Club drives home their Christian sermons on a crooked road filled with devilish potholes.

BIOGRAPHY
by Erik Hage Slim
Cessna's Auto Club play country gospel with a fervor that seems to emanate from a punk pulpit. The group's leader, Slim Cessna, a tall, lanky gentleman with a gold tooth and large white hat, sings in a high-lonesome voice and yodel, and "preaches" with conviction. (Sample sentiment from "Last Song About Satan": "So I said, Lucifer you piece of sh*t/I should kick your ass right where you sit.../My mother cries because of you.") The group released its self-titled debut in 1995; the album was tweaked and reissued in September 2001. By the time of 2000's Always Say Please and Thank You (released on the Jello Biafra punk label Alternative Tentacles), Auto Club's lineup included Danny Pants, Reverend Dwight Pentacost, Jay Munly (who has released records as Munly De Har He), John Rumley (who builds instruments at the Denver Folklore Center), and Ordy Garrison. Despite the fact that Cessna moved to his wife's home state of Rhode Island and Pentacost took up residence in Chicago, the band remained Denver-based, performing there regularly. In 2004 the group released The Bloudy Tenant Truth Peace, followed by 2005's Jesus Let Me Down (which came out on Smooch Records) and Cipher (back on Alternative Tentacles) in 2008. A collection of eight rarities and outtakes by the group titled Buried Behind the Barn was released in 2010. Unentitled was scheduled for a 2011 release.
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5249 - SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB - Always Say Please And Thank You (2000)

SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB
''ALWAYS SAY PLEASE AND THANK YOU''
SEPTEMBER 19 2000
59:06

1/In My Arms Once Again/3:25
2/Viceroy Filter King/3:05
3/Jesus Christ/5:31
4/Goddamn Blue Yodel #7/3:25
5/Cold Cold Eyes/4:29
6/Last Song About Satan/3:10
7/Pine Box/5:25
8/Cheyenne/5:41
9/Water into Wine/3:31
10/Mother's Daughter/3:08
11/Unto the Day/5:33
12/My Only Friend/2:48
13/Hold My Head/9:55
All Tracks By Slim Cessna's Auto Club

REVIEW
by Hal Horowitz
Like a backwoods Pentecostal preacher on a bender, Denver's Slim Cessna's Auto Club careens around their third release with a whisky bottle in one fist and a bible in the other. Songs like "Jesus Christ," "Water Into Wine," and "Unto the Day" seem sober enough upon first glance, but in the hands of this crew, looks are deceiving. Mixing generous helpings of spaghetti Western tremeloed guitar, country & western, hillbilly, bluegrass, and even klezmer into their gospelized rock & roll, Slim and his band walk hand in hand with the devil and Jesus, seemingly unsure of which they're most comfortable with. Themes of redemption and damnation sit side by side here. With his hyperactive, trembling Stan Ridgway-styled vocals and an arsenal of acoustic instruments including banjo, harmonium, pedal steel, auto harp, fiddle, and accordion, Cessna howls, pants, and most stunningly yodels (especially in the appropriately titled "Goddamn Blue Yodel #7") his odes of sin and salvation as if hellhounds are nipping on his trail. Waltz time dirges alternate with double-time barn burners like "Last Song About Satan," a sort of "Devil Went Down to Georgia" story that, with lyrics like "Lucifer you piece of sh--, I should kick your ass right where you sit," won't be hitting number one in the Bible belt regardless of its fire and brimstone intentions. Not that these fellas will be thumping their Good Books in a church near you. Even when they sound sincere, there's a subtle yet incisive tongue-in-cheek attitude here that throws questions of their seriousness in the air, only aided by band members who cloak themselves in names like Danny Pants and Dwight Pentacost. The spiritual band for people who hate spiritual bands, Slim Cessna's Auto Club drives home their Christian sermons on a crooked road filled with devilish potholes.

BIOGRAPHY
by Erik Hage Slim
Cessna's Auto Club play country gospel with a fervor that seems to emanate from a punk pulpit. The group's leader, Slim Cessna, a tall, lanky gentleman with a gold tooth and large white hat, sings in a high-lonesome voice and yodel, and "preaches" with conviction. (Sample sentiment from "Last Song About Satan": "So I said, Lucifer you piece of sh*t/I should kick your ass right where you sit.../My mother cries because of you.") The group released its self-titled debut in 1995; the album was tweaked and reissued in September 2001. By the time of 2000's Always Say Please and Thank You (released on the Jello Biafra punk label Alternative Tentacles), Auto Club's lineup included Danny Pants, Reverend Dwight Pentacost, Jay Munly (who has released records as Munly De Har He), John Rumley (who builds instruments at the Denver Folklore Center), and Ordy Garrison. Despite the fact that Cessna moved to his wife's home state of Rhode Island and Pentacost took up residence in Chicago, the band remained Denver-based, performing there regularly. In 2004 the group released The Bloudy Tenant Truth Peace, followed by 2005's Jesus Let Me Down (which came out on Smooch Records) and Cipher (back on Alternative Tentacles) in 2008. A collection of eight rarities and outtakes by the group titled Buried Behind the Barn was released in 2010. Unentitled was scheduled for a 2011 release.
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5225 - SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB - American Country Music Changed Her Life (1998)

SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB
''AMERICAN COUNTRY MUSIC CHANGED HER LIFE''
RECORDED AT THE BLUEBIRD THEATRE, DENVER, OCTOBER 24 1997
1998
63:23

1/Lethal Injection /2:50
2/Wade In The Water /2:44
3/Come Along /3:35
4/Sometimes I Wonder /2:57
5/Never Too Late /3:02
6/Bartender /2:47
7/Lonely In Hell /3:28
8/Raven /3:25
9/Barrel Of My Gun /2:06
10/Help Me Make It (Through The Night) /2:50
11/Hotter /2:36
12/Night On The Town /3:51
13/Counting Steps /5:28

The Right Honorable: Frank Hauser, Jr.
The Expeditious: Glenn Taylor
The Ever Courteous: John Rumley
The Prolific: Jon Killough
The Enchanting: Slim Cessna

REVIEW
by Chris Handyside
Country-bluegrass-gospel testifiers Slim Cessna's Auto Club have developed a rabid more-than-cult following in their hometown of Denver, CO. Over the course of a half-decade-plus together (in some form or another due to frequent lineup changes), Slim and his band of merry pickers have managed to revivify Appalachian-style gospel-country for an audience of roots-loving twenty- and thirty-somethings tired of the slick Nashville sound. American Country Music Changed Her Life -- a live album recorded at Cessna's home stomping ground, Denver's Bluebird Theater -- is testimony to the band's hard-picking spirit, virtuosity, love of roots country, and appreciation for the diamonds in the rough on the strange side of the tracks. The Auto Club stakes a claim on several covers -- particularly strong here are the Auto Club's haunting take on the traditional "Wade in the Water" and Kris Kristofferson's "Help Me Make It Through the Night," performed true to the original, but with the throaty, nasal vocal hiccups of Mr. Cessna. These songs are transformed by the band's so-tight-it's-loose chemistry and acoustic-based instrumentation (banjos, accordions, pedal steel guitars). But it's on the up-tempo cuts that you really hear the tent-revival fervor shine through as Cessna commences to yodeling, shouting, whooping, and singing just as purty as a lark as the song, audience, and subject matter see fit -- whether giving voice to a man praying for redemption on the eve of his execution (the rambunctious opener "Lethal Injection") or humbly singing the praises of his lovely betrothed (as on the genuinely touching waltz-ballad "You're Smiling at Me"). And, lo, though some of the songs are specifically Christian standards, the speaking-in-tongues fever pitch into which Cessna and company whip the crowd is a universal ritual of musical connection. The set list is testimony to the power of even the most neglected (in pop music terms, anyway) music when played with passion. The closest thing to being there, American Country Music Changed Her Life will make you wish you had.

BIOGRAPHY
by Erik Hage Slim Cessna's Auto Club play country gospel with a fervor that seems to emanate from a punk pulpit. The group's leader, Slim Cessna, a tall, lanky gentleman with a gold tooth and large white hat, sings in a high-lonesome voice and yodel, and "preaches" with conviction. (Sample sentiment from "Last Song About Satan": "So I said, Lucifer you piece of sh*t/I should kick your ass right where you sit.../My mother cries because of you.") The group released its self-titled debut in 1995; the album was tweaked and reissued in September 2001. By the time of 2000's Always Say Please and Thank You (released on the Jello Biafra punk label Alternative Tentacles), Auto Club's lineup included Danny Pants, Reverend Dwight Pentacost, Jay Munly (who has released records as Munly De Har He), John Rumley (who builds instruments at the Denver Folklore Center), and Ordy Garrison. Despite the fact that Cessna moved to his wife's home state of Rhode Island and Pentacost took up residence in Chicago, the band remained Denver-based, performing there regularly. In 2004 the group released The Bloudy Tenant Truth Peace, followed by 2005's Jesus Let Me Down (which came out on Smooch Records) and Cipher (back on Alternative Tentacles) in 2008. A collection of eight rarities and outtakes by the group titled Buried Behind the Barn was released in 2010. Unentitled was scheduled for a 2011 release.
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5224 - SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB (1995)

SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB
''SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB''
1995
45:58

1/Hold On
Traditional/3:06
2/Kristin and Billy
Slim Cessna's Auto Club/3:46
3/Limon
Slim Cessna's Auto Club/3:12
4/My Goodness Me
Slim Cessna's Auto Club/3:53
5/Willow Garden
Traditional/2:54
6/Dear Amelia
Slim Cessna's Auto Club/2:52
7/Jordan/3:22
8/Fifteen Years
Slim Cessna's Auto Club/3:46
9/That's Why I'm Unhappy/1:56
10/Cryin' on My Pillow
Slim Cessna's Auto Club/2:47
11/What'll I Do?/2:50
12/Blindman
Traditional/4:19
13/Champagne Like a Lady
Slim Cessna's Auto Club/3:45
14/Goodnight My Friend
Slim Cessna's Auto Club/3:30

Bob Ferbrache /Keyboards
Frank Jr Hauser /Accordion, Banjo, Bass, Vocals
Jon Killough /Drums
Slim Cessna/Guitar, Vocals
Glenn Taylor /Pedal Steel, Vocals

REVIEW
by Chris Handyside
The debut LP from Denver's Slim Cessna's Auto Club features the band's original lineup (which included the creepy vocals of Frank Hauser, Jr. among other instrumentation and stylistic differences from later lineups). However, it is this lineup of the band that catalyzed what was mainly a live, regionally-popular cult band into a recording, touring, and vibrant traditional country music outfit. Originally self-released, the folks at Alternative Tentacles have done well to reintroduce the pulpit proseltyzing and Appalachian-tinged yodel 'n' twang of this simultaneously deeply original and deeply reverential album. In between the wistful swing of "Kristen & Billy" to a strange, shuffle-swing version of the traditional gospel song "Wade in the Water" that would make Tom Waits smile, Cessna and company redeem both themselves and old-time, pre-"NashVegas" country with as much energy and originality as their contemporaries in Uncle Tupelo did and with just a touch less fire/brimstone than their fellow Denverites (and past bandmates) Sixteen Horsepower. It is catchy cover to cover, but always reverent to its country roots -- charged with a live energy (and plenty of hoots and hollers) that gives a roadhouse feel and ordered in such a way that it feels like you've just danced, sang, and sweated your way through an evening of whiskey-drinking sin 'n' salvation.

BIOGRAPHY
by Erik Hage Slim Cessna's Auto Club play country gospel with a fervor that seems to emanate from a punk pulpit. The group's leader, Slim Cessna, a tall, lanky gentleman with a gold tooth and large white hat, sings in a high-lonesome voice and yodel, and "preaches" with conviction. (Sample sentiment from "Last Song About Satan": "So I said, Lucifer you piece of sh*t/I should kick your ass right where you sit.../My mother cries because of you.") The group released its self-titled debut in 1995; the album was tweaked and reissued in September 2001. By the time of 2000's Always Say Please and Thank You (released on the Jello Biafra punk label Alternative Tentacles), Auto Club's lineup included Danny Pants, Reverend Dwight Pentacost, Jay Munly (who has released records as Munly De Har He), John Rumley (who builds instruments at the Denver Folklore Center), and Ordy Garrison. Despite the fact that Cessna moved to his wife's home state of Rhode Island and Pentacost took up residence in Chicago, the band remained Denver-based, performing there regularly. In 2004 the group released The Bloudy Tenant Truth Peace, followed by 2005's Jesus Let Me Down (which came out on Smooch Records) and Cipher (back on Alternative Tentacles) in 2008. A collection of eight rarities and outtakes by the group titled Buried Behind the Barn was released in 2010. Unentitled was scheduled for a 2011 release.
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