MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: PETUNIA AND THE VIPERS - LONESOME, HEAVY AND LONESOME

The always eclectic and exciting Petunia and the Vipers deliver another set of musical sleight-of-hand, acting old-timey but pushing the boundaries of roots music into uncharted territory. Where does this music come from? Certainly there are Western skyscapes, campfire sounds with yodels and steel guitar soaring into the night, but there's hot jazz, spacey lounge, and layers that slick producers would die to create. An Anchor (Dropped Off A Ship) has guitar moments and arrangements that take it into Steely Dan sophistication, then Blues In My Heart has us right back to the 1920's, Petunia some kind of love great-grandchild of Bessie Smith and Al Jolson.

Wonderfully, Petunia's long-time touring partner, the Minimalist Jug Band (Vancouver poet Al Mader), joins on guest vocals for the delightfully eccentric and manic I Don't Have To Go To High School, about waking up from a nightmare realizing its many years past the time when you had to go to class first thing in the morning. If that seems like a wild concept for a song, that's just scratching the surface of what Petunia delivers. From shaggy dog stories to rockabilly lust (Jeanie, Jeanie) to Ugliest Bitterist Coldest Dreary Place I've Ever Seen, he's far removed from the standard lyrical subjects. And he still has room for his brilliant takes on the best traditional numbers, such as Dying Crapshooter's Blues. Is this the sound of the future, or the past?