SUR-RURAL:

Honky-tonk Hip-hop Dreams : The Gourds defy definition by stirring in some "Gin and Juice" (Grant Britt, October 9, 2002, Durham Independent)

"We don't spend a lot of time thinking about what genre we want to be a part of," says Gourds guitarist Kev Russell. Since the Austin, Texas band first got together around '95, people who do that sort of thing for a living have been trying to describe not only what the band does but where to put them in the musical scheme of things. "It's kind of a day-to-day thing with us, the kind of mood we get in," Russell said from his home in Austin. "Sometimes we're a novelty band. Sometimes we aren't. We like to try and do as many things as possible. We just don't want to get pigeonholed into any one scene or genre."

Russell characterizes the Gourds' music as "a mixture of folk and country and rock and a little blues and Zydeco and Tex-Mex here and there, just a gumbo of stuff." The guitarist says he likes "sur-rural," the term that Tom Waits came up with for his music.

From what you can find on-line they sound pretty good. And what band wouldn't kill for this blurb from the review of their latest disc at Amazon (Jillian Steinberger):

The Gourds go beyond the constraints of alt-country, forging into new territory--call it country dada. Tex-Mex with a dash of Cajun, a handful of honky-tonk, and some rockin' and rollin', the 17 engaging tunes on Cow Fish Fowl or Pig crawl into your brain, lay eggs, and hatch; once they're in there, it's hard to get them out.

Don't say you haven't been warned. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 22, 2002 10:50 AM