peeny wally

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July 16, 2003

Honey, Ain’t No Woman Like A Southern Girl

Also totally rocking my world is the Gossip’s “Movement” which came out a few months ago. They’re another one of those bands whose records I heard before I ever saw them live and thought, “Meh. Another lo-fi, poorly recorded garage band based in sloppy blues. Like there aren’t enough of those.” And then I saw them live and was totally blown away. The Gossip are one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen. Beth Fucking Ditto is a tiger. Her voice soars, it’s transcendent and sanctified. And she knows her shit, knows her roots, and stands her ground and sasses right back at it, with just the proper amounts of both reverence and impudence. She makes no apologies. She has a tiny tattoo of the state of Arkansas, where the whole band hails from, at the small of her back. She’s got a voice that wails like church, like hot, tarred summer pavement, like a Marlboro Red bummed from a stranger at a late night field party, like lemonade with more than a touch of bourbon. These songs are full of the back roads I spent my adolescence on, full of flooded rivers and mosquito bites, shitty jobs and big dreams, moaning and wailing and howling at midnight. This girl’s voice sends me, I mean damn.

And they’re on tour now.

Posted by pogo at July 16, 2003 4:31 PM