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<\/p>\nFor more than 30 years, Chapel Hill, N.C.-based band Southern Culture on the Skids has been making fun, often silly music that represents the band’s irreverent yet loving perspective on the culture of the southeastern United States. Recently the trio has been recognized for its music, and taken the opportunity to honor the work of a figure whose work influenced theirs. And a new collection of old music is set to reassert the band’s control over some the most popular songs in the SCOTS catalog.<\/p>\n
On February 10, outsider singer-songwriter Hasil Adkins was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame. Adkins, who died in 2005, exerted a significant influence on some of the more out-there musical artists who would follow in his wake; the Cramps and Flat Duo Jets are just two of the many acts who freely name the psychobilly pioneer as a favorite. And Southern Culture on the Skids \u2013 who, like Adkins, have written songs about chicken \u2013 was asked to perform at the induction.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was kind of a Hasil lovefest there for a little while,\u201d says SCOTS guitarist Rick Miller. \u201cThe crowd really liked it.\u201d Miller says he was pleased to see \u201cThe Haze\u201d honored. \u201cI was amazed that they let a guy so far outside of the traditional music scene into their Hall of Fame,\u201d he says. \u201cThey inducted some traditional musicians too: Frank Hutchinson, along with some traditional bluegrass and old-time.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Other honorees included Ann Magnuson of Bongwater and the late Fred \u201cSonic\u201d Smith of MC5. Smith’s widow, poet-musician Patti Smith was in attendance; she and her son Jackson were joined onstage by guitarist Lenny Kaye to honor Smith. \u201cThere was also some guy [Michael W. Smith] who’s huge in the Christian market,\u201d Miller says. \u201cI don’t know who he was, but it was all really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller and his SCOTS band mates had played with Adkins many times, and included a tribute to him (\u201cCicada Rock\u201d) on their ninth album, 2004’s Mojo Box<\/i>. Many years ago, Miller tried to put together an album of Adkins’ songs. \u201cI got in the mail a box of, like, ten reel-to-reel master tapes from him,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThere was a note in the box; ‘Pick 16 for the record and two for a single, and send the rest back to me.’\u201d Unfortunately, as the project neared completion, the record label went out of business. \u201cI just sent all the tapes back to Hasil,\u201d Miller says. \u201cSome songs ended up on Norton Records later on. But they showed a side of Hasil I didn’t really know: country, hillbilly-flavored and bluesy songs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Southern Culture on the Skids earned some recognition of their own late last year. Sirius XM \u201cUnderground Garage\u201d radio host Little Steven named one of their songs, \u201cDirt Road\u201d from 2017’s The Electric Pinecones<\/i>, as one of the \u201cCoolest Songs in the World.\u201d \u201cWe noticed that the list [of nominees] was stacked with some good records,\u201d Miller says. \u201cSo I was like, ‘Eh, I don’t know how good we’ll do on this.\u201d Noting that he doesn’t know how many SCOTS fans listen to Little Steven (\u201cobviously more than I thought\u201d), Miller emphasizes that the band appreciates the gesture. \u201cWe came in fourth. It was an honor that they even picked our song [for consideration] in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n
The band’s spring 2018 tour traveled to more than two dozen dates along the eastern seaboard and the south (including sets at the annual South by Southwest festival in Austin). And eventually there will be a new CD for fans only, one featuring material from the band’s years on the Geffen label. \u201cWe own the songs,\u201d Miller explains. \u201cI wrote ’em. I own the publishing. But Geffen owns the versions<\/i> of the songs. So when someone maybe makes an indie film and wants to use one of those songs, we have to refer them to Geffen. We get kinda lost in the shuffle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rick Miller says that the re-recordings mean that those tunes \u201ccan be part of our catalog again. We’ll probably put together a little ‘bootlegger’s choice’ and make it available to fans who say, ‘I love that \u201cBanana Pudding\u201d song; what album is it on?’\u201d<\/p>\n
He laughs when he notes that the new recordings sound really good. \u201cWe’re actually better now than we were then,\u201d he says. \u201cI don’t know if that’s gonna be a plus or a minus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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