Album Review

Legendary Shack Shakers - Cockadoodledeux

For this Shack Shakers edition, J.D. Wilkes shifts to high octane country swing, mashing Commander Cody and Asleep at the Wheel’s trademarked Texas soufflé with good natured honky-tonk.

Album - Legendary Shack Shakers - Cockadoodledeux
November 1, 2021 11:00 am GMT
Last Edited June 30, 2022 12:33 pm GMT

x-logo
f-logo
email logo
link icon

Link copied

Content Sponsor

There was nothing fancy about Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers Cockadoodledon’t when it was unleashed on an unsuspecting public in 2002. 19 years later, for idiosyncratic founder J.D. Wilkes and his unhinged, some might even say deranged, roots music eclecticism, comes for this follow-up of sorts.

The band’s concept has altered over the years from its punk/blues/rockabilly origins to twisted bluegrass (Wilkes is proficient on harmonica and banjo) and warped yet authentic swamp rock. But the focus has remained on Wilkes’ unpredictable penchant for diving headfirst into whatever sound he’s pushing, and emerging sputtering, frantically and fervently clinging onto tattered shards of his Southern traditions. 

It goes without saying that this collision of Southern Culture on the Skids, Dwight Yoakam, the Reverend Horton Heat and The Cramps is clearly not for everyone. But when the combination clicks, it’s a party waiting to happen.

For this Shack Shakers edition, Wilkes shifts to high octane country swing, mashing Commander Cody and Asleep at the Wheel’s trademarked Texas soufflé with good natured honky-tonk (a cover of Harlan Howard’s hit for John Conlee ‘I Don’t Remember Loving You’ is a highlight).

There’s enough hot-wired twang to blast out of the blocks with a cracked, deranged version of the instrumental ‘Rawhide’. “Yee-haw” you’ll be shouting, without looking to see who is watching, as the reverbed guitar crunches and Wilkes cries “Rolling, rolling, rolling… rawhide” in a mad dash to the ending whip cracks and mooing cows. How can anyone not love this?

And he’s just getting warmed up.

It’s a rip-snorting hoedown as Wilkes whips through hot country licks with the passion of a backcountry preacher, as elements of blues, jazz, string band music and the effects of heavy drinking comingle over the next 11 tracks, all done and dusted in just over a half hour.

No solos, no extended instrumental passages, just fun, frisky pure C&W that you might have heard on the radio in the 60s, sung by Wilkes with his tongue often planted firmly in his cheek.

Song titles like ‘Triple Timer’ (“you’re a single minded, double-crossin’, triple timin’ tramp”), ‘Tickle Your Innerds’ and the cowpunk wit of ‘Punk Rock Retirement Plan’ where the punk protagonist decides to return to his country roots (“Well it’s Johnny Cash for Johnny Rotten, Johnny Horton for Johnny Ramone”) keep the humor on high alert as Wilkes plows through his lyrics like stampeding cattle.

The frontman rounded up some former members of his ever-changing outfit to bring things full circle with authentic, even virtuosic, playing recorded mostly in person at a studio in his hometown of Paducah, Kentucky.

The past 25 years have seen Wilkes ping-ponging from one group of Shake Shakers to another, changing styles faster than his underwear yet doggedly staying true to a love of, if somewhat skewed outlook on, backwoods rustic Americana. He’s still at it, ready to take his caffeinated vision and boundless energy to the next quarter century.

It’s never too late to join him.

8/10

Cockadoodledeux is out on Friday 5th November via Alternative Tentacles. You can purchase the record below from Holler's selected partners:

Album - Legendary Shack Shakers - Cockadoodledeux

Alternative Tentacles | 2021

Items featured on Holler are first selected by our editorial team and then made available to buy. When you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Written by Hal Horowitz
Content Sponsor
Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood Album Cover
reviews

Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood

Cody Jinks - Change the Game Album Cover
reviews

Cody Jinks – Change The Game

Album - Chris Young - Young Love & Saturday Nights
reviews

Chris Young – Young Love & Saturday Nights

Kacey Musgraves - Deeper Well Album Cover
reviews

Kacey Musgraves - Deeper Well