THE HANGDOGS
Beware Of Dog (Shanachie)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Shanachie is an Irish Gaelic word that translates most simply as "storyteller." It's something more than that implies, actually. Shanachies are the oral historians that have served as the cultural memory of the Irish people through centuries of oppression devoted to the destruction of that culture and those memories.

It's particularly fitting, then, that The Hangdogs have found a home at Shanachie Records, because they're sensational storytellers. Their songs, principally penned by singer/guitarist Matthew Grimm, tell the stories of the past and present of the ordinary Americans who have created a culture from an extraordinary mixture of backgrounds and viewpoints. And they do this in the context of a New York City based Country & Western band, so they must know something about cultural resistance.

If they didn't have a home at Shanachie, though, they'd be bound to find one somewhere, because music this good just can't go unnoticed forever. This is hardcore honky tonk with a rock 'n roll edge, which isn't all that uncommon these days, but it's done uncommonly well and the songs are uncommonly good. You know, just one after another of those songs that leave you saying "I wish I'da written that!" They sing 'em and play 'em real good, too, with heart and energy. These guys just might make New York, NY the country music capitol of America.

Track List:

The Gun Song * Out There * Anacostia * Angelita Turns * St. Clair Of Cedar Rapids * Waltz This Waltz Alone * Meet Me At Tommy's * Other People's Houses * Come The Night * Beware The Dog * The World Is Yours * Somewhere Near Heaven

© 2000 - Shaun Dale