John Doe & The Sadies - Country Club (LP)

In true honky tonk style, Country Club is the bastard child of a drunken promise. A post show hang-out between X & the Knitters’ John Doe and The Sadies produced the idea to join forces to make an album of country songs. Both rock n’ roll and country music are littered with the ghosts of broken promises, but this one was destined to become reality. Timeless sounds abound on Country Club, driven by Doe’s gorgeously rough-hewn vocals, the dueling thousand pound chops of the guitar-wielding Good brothers and The Sadies’ world class rhythm section of Mike Belitsky and Sean Dean. Here, the Countrypolitan sound of late 1960s Nashville is filtered through the telecaster-based tonk of Bakersfield, CA and the results are simply stunning. Classic tunes by Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings stand alongside corkers by Tammy Wynette and Roger Miller, all of them getting unique treatments by Doe and The Sadies. The album also features four originals - three from The Sadies and one courtesy of the timeless pairing of John Doe and Exene Cervenka. On Country Club Doe and The Sadies find the perfect blend of the reverent and the experimental, resulting in a slightly psychedelic brew that just might pass for straight if you’re not lookin’. Country Club has been out of print for years and is now being repressed on limited edition clear orange smoke vinyl.

Indie exclusive Clear Orange Smoke vinyl.