Smokin The Dummy

Description

Recorded in Lubbock, Terry Allen’s hometown, two years after his 1979 masterpiece *Lubbock (On Everything)*, *Smokin’ the Dummy* is a fierce sequel, more unified in sound and style than its predecessor. It is also more brutal and louder, wilder and, above all, more menacing in its rock ‘n’ roll aspect. Terry sought to harness the power of this well-oiled collective engine to push his songs into rawer, more rock-oriented territories. The first album to feature Terry Allen with the Panhandle Mystery Band, *Smokin’ the Dummy* showcases a formidable group refining its style, expanding its range, and never backing down. Alongside the stalwart Maines brothers – producer, guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist Lloyd, bassist Kenny, and drummer Donnie – and stalwart Richard Bowden (violin, mandolin, cello), newcomer Jesse Taylor provides searing lead guitar, lent by Joe Ely who plays harmonica here. The tracks revisit Terry’s various obsessions and are populated by characters more dishonest than the last. The album closes with "The Lubbock Tornado (I Don't Know)", which takes the American vernacular tradition of disaster ballads and transposes it into sinister and hilarious spaces involving governmental or extraterrestrial conspiracies. In 1980, as in 2022, we can rationalize any calamity with conspiracy theories. Eternal American music.