''Poor Little Critter on the Road'' is the debut album from X side project

The Knitters The Knitters are a Los Angeles-based band who play country music, country, rockabilly and folk music. The Knitters' name is a play on the name of the folk group The Weavers. Background The Knitters formed in 1982 as a side project to the band ...

, ''Poor Little Critter on the Road'' contains original compositions and covers of songs by X as well as established

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

performers.

Music

Robert Ham of ''

Paste Magazine ''Paste'' is an American monthly music and entertainment digital magazine, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with studios in Atlanta and Manhattan, and owned by Paste Media Group. The magazine began as a website in 1998. It ran as a print publi ...

'' said the album's tracks "sound ragged and blissed out, as if they were made by a band at the end of a four-hour,

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

-fueled set at a roadside

honky tonk A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, honky tonk, or tonk) is either a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons or the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano ...

Reception

Bart Bull Bart Bull is an American writer, reporter, author, columnist, and critic. Background Born in Seattle, Washington, Bull grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. He dropped out of high school to write a novel, and then returned briefly, leaving again with ...

of ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' wrote, "

Exene Exene Cervenka (born Christene Lee Cervenka; February 1, 1956) is an American singer, artist, and poet. She is best known for her work as a singer in the California punk rock band X. Music career The 21-year-old Cervenka met 23-year-old m ...

and Doe mostly succeed, and Doe mostly triumphs. He's listened long and hard to the masters.

Alvin ''Alvin'' (DSV-2) is a crewed deep-ocean research submersible owned by the United States Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The original vehicle was built by General Mills' Electro ...

, rattling loose every

Sister Rosetta Tharpe Sister Rosetta Tharpe (born Rosetta Nubin, March 20, 1915 – October 9, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. She gained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spirit ...

lick known to man, woman, or God, is this record's secret hero."

Track listing

All tracks composed by Exene Cervenka and John Doe; except where indicated #"Poor Little Critter on the Road" – 1:43 #"Someone Like You" – 2:40 #"Walkin' Cane" (Traditional; arranged by The Knitters) – 5:34 #"Silver Wings" (

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in country music, he was a central pioneer of the Bakersfield ...

) – 2:12 #"Poor Old Heartsick Me" (

Helen Carter Helen Myrl Carter Jones (September 12, 1927 – June 2, 1998) was an American country music singer. The eldest daughter of Maybelle Carter, she performed with her mother and her younger sisters, June Carter and Anita Carter, as a member of ...

) – 2:41 #"The New World" – 2:53 #"Cryin' But My Tears Are Far Away" – 3:35 #"Love Shack" – 3:55 #"The Call of the Wreckin' Ball" (John Doe, Dave Alvin) – 2:56 #"Trail of Time" (Alton Delmore) – 3:10 #"Baby Out of Jail" (Harty Taylor, Karl Davis) – 2:39 #"Rock Island Line" ( Hudie Ledbetter) – 4:16

Personnel

;The Knitters *

John Doe John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used in the British, Canadian, and American legal systems, when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law ...

– vocals,

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

Dave Alvin David Albert Alvin (born November 11, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He is a former and founding member of the roots rock band the Blasters. Alvin has recorded and performed as a solo artist since the late 1980s ...

– acoustic guitar,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

Exene Cervenka Exene Cervenka (born Christene Lee Cervenka; February 1, 1956) is an American singer, artist, and poet. She is best known for her work as a singer in the California punk rock band X. Music career The 21-year-old Cervenka met 23-year-old m ...

– vocals * D.J. Bonebrake –

snare drum The snare drum (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often u ...

*Jonny Ray Bartel –

upright bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

*Martin Lund –

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

Billy Zoom Billy Zoom (born Stuart Tyson Kindell; February 20, 1948) is an American guitarist, best known as one of the founders of the punk rock band X. Early life The son of a big band woodwinds player, Kindell began playing a variety of instruments, i ...

– Macaroni box on "Walkin' Cane"

External links

* Allmusic * *

References

{{Authority control 1985 debut albums The Knitters albums Slash Records albums