Track Listing

1. Poor Little Critter on the Road - Trailer Bride
2. Someone Like You
3. Walkin' Cane [With Catherine Irwin] - Catherine Ann Irwin,
4. Silver Wings - Whiskeytown
5. Poor Old Heartsick Me [With Nora O'Connor] - Nora O'Connor,
6. New World
7. Cryin' But My Tears Are Far Away [With John Doe] - John Doe, Old 97's
8. Love Shack
9. Call of the Wreckin' Ball - Robbie Fulks
10. Trail of Time - The Handsome Family
11. Baby Out of Jail - Ninety Nine Tales
12. Rock Island Line [With Jane Baxter Miller] - Devil in a Woodpile,
13. Why Don't We Try Anymore [#] - The Knitters

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #324260 in Music
• Released on: 1999-10-12
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Album Description
1999 tribute to the Knitters, the offshoot 'country' band fromed by Exene, John Doe and DJ Bonebrake from X and the Blasters' Dave Alvin. Features current acts performing all of the cuts from the Knitters' sole album, including Old '97s (with John Doe!), The Sadies with Catherine Irwin and Ground Speed with Nora O'Connor. 13 tracks total.

Amazon.com
In 1985 members of X and the Blasters paid tribute to the classic country of the Carter Family and Merle Haggard, recording as the Knitters (a play on words of folk family the Weavers). Here late-'90s alternative-country artists bow to the Knitters, covering the dozen songs on 1985's Poor Little Critter on the Road in order. Bloodshot's insurgent stable dominates the record, led by Trailer Bride's rollicking title song; Catherine Ann Irwin (of Freakwater) and the Sadies on the traditional "Walkin' Cane"; and Devil in a Woodpile (with vocalist Jane Baxter Miller), who nail Leadbelly's railroad song "Rock Island Line." The only swing-and-a-miss is Whiskeytown's plodding interpretation of Haggard's "Silver Wings," the Knitters' best as sung by John Doe, who appears twice here: with the Old 97's on "Cryin' but My Tears Are Far Away" and with the reunited Knitters on "Try Anymore." --Scott Holter

Customer Reviews

Not bad, but...
Not bad, but the original Knitters were *so* much better! I recommend anyone buy the original first. That was truly a work of unvarnished American rockabilly-punk. Listening again to my vinyl copy I hear mistakes, things falling on the floor in the background, general chaos--in a word, *energy*. Really high energy. Just listening to the original Knitters' "Rock Island Line," brings back that visceral disgust I felt then for anyone over the age of 21! For X, The Cramps, and guys like Billy Zoom, Dave Alvin, and even Brian Setzer, music was not about airplay but about nasty, dark, smoky clubs the size of garages that fat, tassel-loafer-and-shorts middle-aged suburban guys use for their Z3s, their neglected wives' SUVs and their riding lawn mowers, and found in nasty, dark, smelly alleys of downtown where the rats under the dumpsters were the size of the wife's jack russell.

So if you *really* want to hear rockabilly-punk, find the original. And if you're sick to death of market-driven, techno-busy pop like Britney, Eminem or any other current "musician" then dig up other stuff made or produced by these old rockabilly guys--just read the liner notes and go from there. If you're unconvinced of the terminal zombifying effects of record company marketing just listen to an old 1963 recording of the Beatles playing the Star Club in Hamburg, and you'll understand. Even *they* were a different band back then--they had ENERGY!

Punk/country? It is possible!
This is a really fun album. It's a tribute to the Knitters, who did a punk/country album in the 80s that was, itself, a tribute to the Carter Family and other country greats. This album features some great bands (Trailer Bride, The Handsome Family, The Sadies) and one song by the Knitters themselves. People who are into oldtime country or roots music will love this album, because it's a fun twist on the old stuff. People who are into Chicago indie rock and 80s punk will also appreciate this album. It's a real gem.