VA - For A Decade Of Sin: 11 Years Of Bloodshot Records [2CD Set] (2005)

Incredible collection of Bloodshot Records varied artist roster! Includes new, previously unreleased tracks by Ralph Stanley, Minus 5, Kelly Hogan, Sixteen Horsepower, Old 97s and many many more!

Celebrating a little more than its first decade (but who's counting?), Chicago's Bloodshot label continues to reinforce a bond between country roots and punk attitude, with results that refuse to be confined to any categorical corral. Rather than releasing a more predictable "best-of" compilation, Bloodshot shows its ornery spirit with a wide-ranging (and previously unreleased) selection of gems by label mainstays, kindred spirits, and fellow travelers. While the banjo-driven Split Lip Rayfield (sounding here like the Beverly Hillbillies on psychedelic moonshine), the transgenerational mountain harmonies of Paul Burch and Ralph Stanley, and the hopped-up Meat Purveyors conform to alt-country expectation, other highlights range from covers of the O'Jays ("Love Train," by the Yayhoos) and a riotous anthem of chicken stomping ("Call of the Wrecking Ball" by John Doe with Jim and Jennie and the Pinetops) to a recasting of the instrumental Magnificent Seven theme by steel guitarist Jon Rauhouse and a dreamy deconstruction of "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" by the ethereal Sally Timms. Whatever Nashville might think of this music, country just doesn't get any countrier than Wayne Hancock with Hank Williams III ("Juke Joint Jumping"). Anyone drawn by the higher-profile favorites--Graham Parker, the Old 97s, the Waco Brothers, My Morning Jacket--will likely discover a bunch of new favorites within the two-disc bargain. --Don McLeese