Hee Haw Hell (CD - 2007)

Dash Rip Rock: Donkey Davis (guitar); Brimstone Broussard (bass instrument); Eric De Padua (drums).

Personnel: Maureen Ryan (vocals).

More than two decades into its career, the Louisiana country-punk trio Dash Rip Rock unveiled the ambitious HEE HAW HELL, a concept album that draws inspiration from Dante's INFERNO. Armed with a rebellious Southern attitude and some top-notch guests (Mojo Nixon and Jello Biafra, among them), the group turns a journey through Hades into a raucous party, as best revealed on "Chariots of Hellfire," its rowdy, boom-chicka-boom take on the theme from CHARIOTS OF FIRE.

After making records for over twenty years, Louisiana-based cowpunk renegades Dash Rip Rock have ventured into territory they've never explored before -- they've made a concept album, albeit one suited to their Dixie-fried tastes. 2007's Hee Haw Hell is a 12-song cycle in which a nameless redneck dies in the midst of a wild party (chronicled in "Fall Down, Go Boom") and wanders through Hell's various circles and tributaries, where he encounters sexually crazed women ("MOAF,") an ill-fated Southern rock band ("Southern Rain"), insane preachers obsessed with kinky sex and pork ("Chariots of Hellfire," which features a perfectly cast cameo from Mojo Nixon) and A&R men who took the teeth out of punk rock ("Punk Rock Never Happened"), among other things. While Hee Haw Hell is a little short on a consistent narrative, the album's "hillbillies in Hades" theme permeates everything here, and it suits the band's rowdy attitude quite well. Dash Rip Rock have written a strong batch of songs for this album, which kick hard while bringing the laughs at the right time, and the band (Bill Davis on guitar, Brimstone Broussard on bass and Eric De Padua on drums) is in tight and hard-rocking shape, with plenty of help from the likes of Bill Lloyd, Jello Biafra (whose Alternative Tentacles label brought this out) and members of the Upper Crust and Supagroup. There's an old saying that if you're gonna go to hell, you may as well go for a reason, and Dash Rip Rock's vacation in the Land of Fire and Brimstone has helped them bring back a damned fine album: Hee Haw Hell shows these guys aren't running out of heat anytime soon. ~ Mark Deming minimize