Music

Not all of these records are better than A Bigger Bang. But none of them have any shitty Keith songs, and all of them have tracks that'd sound really great surrounding "Rough Justice" or "Oh No Not You Again" or "Laughing I Nearly Died" or "Look What the Cat Dragged In" on the radio, though don't hold your breath. The Mighty Jeremiahs do better religion songs than Brooks & Dunn or Shaver. Brooks & Dunn and Shaver do better slow songs than Chris Cagle. But the real battle might be between fake bands: Ricky and the Red Streaks (in a B&D song) and Slim Chance and the Can't Hardly Playboys (in a Shaver song). The latter definitely have the best verse: "They've got a new song out on Polish records/It'll be a Polish hit real soon." That's Polish as in Lemon Pledge, not polka. And Polish hit as in pile o' shit.

AMERICAN MINOR
The Buffalo Creek EP
(Jive/Zomba hard rock EP)
Stream "Walk On"
Stream "Movin' On Up" (Windows Media Player)

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES
Deuce
(Spitfire post-glam hard rock album)
Stream "Never"
Stream "The Unknown" (Windows Media Player)

BROOKS & DUNN
Hillbilly Deluxe
(Arista Nashville country-rock album)
Stream "Just Another Neon Night"
Stream "I May Never Get Over You" (Windows Media Player)

JUNIOR BROWN
The Austin Experience: Recorded Live at the Continental Club
(Telarc surf-hula-corrido-jazz-blues country-rock album)
Stream "Juan Charasquado"
Stream "Hillbilly Hula Gal" (Windows Media Player)

CHRIS CAGLE
Anywhere but Here
(EMI/Capitol country-rock album)

MAZEY GARDENS & THE BRICK HIT HOUSE BAND
"Callin' In Dead"
(Ambassador/Rudyland seven-inch vinyl fake-reissue retro-country single)
Download "Callin In Dead" (MP3)

THE MIGHTY JEREMIAHS
The Mighty Jeremiahs
(Paradigm Shift/Ear X-tacy heavy country-gospel-boogie album)
Stream "Judgement Day"
Stream "Walk With Me Jesus" (Windows Media)

THE RIBEYE BROTHERS
Bar Ballads and Cautionary Tales
(Times Beach meat-and-potatoes garage-punk album)
Download "We Became Snakes"
Download "Find Yer Own" (MP3)

ROSETTA WEST
Illumination
(rosettawest@aol.com hard-assed boogie album)
Download "The Flag"
Download "Children" (MP3)

BILLY JOE SHAVER
The Real Deal
(Compadre country-rock album)
Stream "There's No Fool Like an Old Fool"
Stream "Livin' a Lovin' Lie" (Windows Media)

THE TOMATOES
The Rise and Fall of the Tomatoes
(Revolution Blues Music meat-and-tomatoes hard rock album)
Stream "She Wore A Yellow Gas Mask"
Stream "Chicago" (RealAudio)

THE TOMBSTONES
Twang From the Grave
(Saustex Media '80s–'90s gothabilly reissue)
Download "Dark As A Dungeon"(MP3)