Drag the River - It's Crazy

Drag the River
It’s Crazy
Suburban Home Records
Grade: A-

The first time I heard It’s Crazy and the opening song “Leavin’ in the Morning” I was driving through Tennessee’s Appalachia. You probably couldn’t conjure up a better way to first be exposed to the country-western rock of Drag the River. And while you may figure a band that presents such an image to be swigging whiskey in a Smokey Mountain shack or in a Nashville dive, the composition of Drag the River is a polar opposite. In fact, from afar you’d think that such a collection of artists that is Drag the River would be playing some type of sophomoric punk. The reasons are obvious. Formed in the mid-90s as a side project for Chad Price of All and Jon Snodgrass of Armchair Martian, Drag the River’s lineup now includes JJ Nobody of the Nobodys, Dave Barker of Pinhead Circus and Love Me Destroyer, and Spacey Casey of Hot Rod Circuit. Regardless of Drag the River’s pedigree, you can’t deny the attractiveness of the thirteen songs on It’s Crazy. Reflecting the band’s and member’s history, It’s Crazy was actually recorded song-by-song in different locales around the country. Again, starting off on the slow, short acoustic burner “Leavin’ in the Morning,” you are treated to the heavy pedal steel on “Tired & Fired,” the sweet rocker “Me & Joe Drove Out to California…” (a song that Limbeck would kill for), “Amazing G.,” and “Cousins.” For some odd reason, the last track is actually the entire record on a continuous run – great for parties? Good times.