Ten years and seven releases into a career as the thinking person’s rabblerousers, the Waco Brothers are as caustic and passionate as ever. And why shouldn’t they be? For a crew like the Waco Brothers, whose collective experience embraces populism in all its guises–from punk rock activism to the blue collar solidarity of true country music, not the reactionary bath water that passes for commercial country music these days–there’s clearly more to be pissed off about now than ever before.
No one blends pointed anthems of rage and disgust with the powers that be, with beer-soaked, good-time country/rock as well as the Waco Brothers. Having three dynamic lead singers–Tracey Dear, Dean Schlabowske and the inimitable Jon Langford of The Mekons–gives the band a triple-barreled threat. Langford has evolved into a key figure in the American music scene, one capable of expressing a whole range of complex localized emotions and issues–not bad for a Brit.
Eerily, the Waco Brothers and Freedom and Weep may be the perfect band and perfect release for the post-Hurricane Katrina world we now live in. With songs overflowing with eloquent and tuneful rage against Team Bush, corporate carpetbaggers and morally corrupt opportunists, it sounds like a prequel to a disaster about to happen. Listen up, people: Resistance is possible, and you can also dance to it. “If you think you’re getting screwed, join the club / If you’re sick and tired of being used, join the club.” Amen.
This article appears in Sep 8-14, 2005.