Th' Legendary Shack Shakers

Nashville, believe it or not, is still capable of pumping out the kind of primal American essence it was originally known for. Case in point: Th' Legendary Shack Shakers, who will wheel their cranium-cracking sideshow to the Larimer with the Trailer Park Playboys and the Skulls. Drawing from, but not...

By Jason Heller

February 17, 2005

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Nashville, believe it or not, is still capable of pumping out the kind of primal American essence it was originally known for. Case in point: Th' Legendary Shack Shakers, who will wheel their cranium-cracking sideshow to the Larimer with the Trailer Park Playboys and the Skulls. Drawing from, but not overlapping with, the twisted hillbilly vision of Reverend Horton Heat and Southern Culture on the Skids, leader Colonel J.D. Wilkes comes on like a younger, country-fried Jello Biafra, belting out a distorted howl with equal parts twang and sarcasm. The group's latest disc, Believe, is a fireball of gospel-level fervor, liquefying punk, blues and even the occasional dot of polka into a scalding splat of Brylcreem-slathered belligerence. If you like your rock and roll greasy, God-fearing and degenerate, the Shakers will move you.

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