Les Claypool's Duo De Twang: Four Foot Shack

photo: Jeremy Scott

Some albums are made to have some fun and Les Claypool's Duo De Twang must have enjoyed themselves immensely when they put together Four Foot Shack. Les Claypool and Marc “MIRV” Haggard played some acoustic shows country-fying Claypool's songs as well as a wide variety of covers. By doing so they breathed new life into Primus favorites like Wynona's Big Brown Beaver and Jerry Was a Race Car Driver. Honorable metiton for the reworking of two songs from Claypool 2009 album Of Fungi And Foe, Red State Girl sounding really sleazy and Boonville Stomp coming close to being sinister soundtrack for a David Lynch movie.

In a format like this it makes sense to pay tribute to famous predecessors like Stompin' Tom Connors, The Chantay and Johnny Horton. However, live audiences must have scratched their heads at first when the duo dug into Alice in Chains' Man in the Box and, wait for it, the Bee Gees disco smash Stayin' Alive. Rest assured, there's no sign of the hysterical falsetto vocals, but Uncle Les trademark nasal pitch turns it into a cool folk song.

What will they think of next? Count on it that the duo will have a couple tricks old and new when they hit the road again in February.

Four Foot Shack will be released on ATO Records. Release date February 4.

Tracks:

1. Four Foot Shack (Les Claypool's Duo de Twang)
2. Wynona's Big Brown Beaver (Primus)
3. Amos Moses (Jerry Reed)
4. Red State Girl (Les Claypool)
5. The Bridge Came Tumblin' Down (Stompin' Tom Connors)
6. Boonville Stomp (Les Claypool)
7. Stayin' Alive (Bee Gees)
8. Rumble of the Diesel (Les Claypool)
9. Pipe Line (The Chantays)
10. Buzzards of Greenhill (Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade)
11. Hendershot (Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade)
12. Man in the Box (Alice in Chains)
13. D's Diner (Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade)
14. Battle of New Orleans (Johnny Horton)
15. Jerry Was a Race Car Driver (Primus)

Live dates:

• 02/26 The Heath at the McKittrick Hotel New York, NY
• 02/27 The Heath at the McKittrick Hotel New York, NY
• 02/28 Bearsville Theater Woodstock, NY
• 03/01 The Sinclair, Cambridge, MA
• 03/03 Jefferson Theater, Charlottesville, VA,
• 03/04 Mr. Smalls Theatre, Millvale, PA
• 03/06 The Kent Stage, Kent, OH
• 03/07 Majestic Theatre, Detroit, MI
• 03/08 The Vogue, Indianapolis, IN

» lesclaypool.com