| Hogs on the Highway | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1997 | |||
| Genre | Bluegrass, country folk | |||
| Length | 44:58 | |||
| Label | Sugar Hill | |||
| Producer | Danny Barnes | |||
| Bad Livers chronology | ||||
| ||||
Hogs on the Highway is an album by the American band Bad Livers, released in 1997. [1] [2] The band's label, Sugar Hill, marketed the album to bluegrass audiences and college radio. [3] [4] Bad Livers supported the album with a North American tour. [5]
The album was recorded over two months in Austin and San Marcos, Texas. [6] [7] Bob Grant replaced fiddler Ralph White, although both contributed to Hogs on the Highway. [8] Steve James played mandolin on some of the tracks. [9] Bass player Mike Rubin played tuba on "Lathe Crick". [10] The band used a mbira on "Falling Down the Stairs (With a Pistol in My Hand)". [11] Most of the songs were written by frontman Danny Barnes, who also produced. [12] [13] "Cluck Old Hen" is an interpretation of the traditional banjo song. [14] "Saludamas a Tejas" is a version of the polka standard. [15] Bad Livers included two unlisted tracks at the end of the album. [14]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Chicago Tribune |   [16] |
| MusicHound Folk: The Essential Album Guide |  [17] |
| The Sydney Morning Herald | [15] |
| USA Today | [18] |
| The Virgin Encyclopedia of Nineties Music | [19] |
USA Today stated that "Bad Livers are a mix of sincerity and goofiness, capable of worthy homages to Hank Williams and Bill Monroe as well as outbreaks of punk anarchism." [18] The Chicago Tribune called the album a "fleet-fingered swig of pinewood blues and ragged breakdowns", later noting that "it spills over with tubas, banjos and accordions, and is infused with elements of gospel and even a vague sort of hillbilly pop—it's the closest they've come to making an unselfconscious, truly grownup record." [20] [16] The Gazette determined that "although the Livers are very credible playing straight-ahead bluegrass, they're really a symbiotic, high-energy country roots band who can swing on a fiddle tune one minute, stomp the blues the next and bring it all together in a high-energy package". [14]
The Sydney Morning Herald said that Bad Livers "have taken just about every conceivable left-field roots-country style and mixed up a tasty brew which drifts from Texas swing to jug band, bluegrass." [15] The Santa Fe New Mexican noted that "the band's punk sensibilities come out in the some of the goofball lyrics". [11] The Houston Chronicle concluded that "Bad Livers are less disjointed 'thrash-grass' than they are faithful to the moonshine spirit of old-timey string bands such as Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers." [21] The Houston Press listed Hogs on the Highway among the best Texas albums of 1997. [22]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Hogs on the Highway" | 3:24 |
| 2. | "Lathe Crick" | 4:30 |
| 3. | "Counting the Crossties" | 4:13 |
| 4. | "Shufflin' to Memphis" | 3:16 |
| 5. | "Dallas, Texas" | 3:39 |
| 6. | "Corn Liquor Made a Fool Out of Me" | 2:45 |
| 7. | "Saludamas a Tejas" | 3:20 |
| 8. | "The National Blues" | 4:18 |
| 9. | "Mr. Modal" | 1:10 |
| 10. | "My Old Man" | 3:25 |
| 11. | "Cluck Old Hen" | 1:57 |
| 12. | "News Not the Weather" | 2:29 |
| 13. | "Falling Down the Stairs (With a Pistol in My Hand)" | 6:32 |
| Total length: | 44:58 | |
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