New Additions: Hank McCoy & The Dead Ringers self-titled album (1992)

Stumbling upon Hank McCoy & The Dead Ringers during my research for the book gave me pause. Was this really alternative country, in the way that the Haynes Boys or Burn Barrel were alternative country? To my ears, though it might be interpreted slightly differently, there appeared to be nothing "alternative" about it. But then how does that factor into a book primarily about rock music and its various sub-genres? I'm not quite sure yet, I do know that members of a variety of bands, including Greenhorn, Great Plains, Ronald Koal And The Trillionaires, and more.

Video: Scratch by Burn Barrel

Sixty to Zero Blog: Burnbarrel - the intersection of Tim Easton, JP Olsen and The Haynes Boys

The Sixty to Zero Blog, which has written on midwest "alt country" whatever that encompasses for over a decade wrote about Burn Barrel, Tim Eason, Beetkeepers, J.P. Olsen and more back in 2007. Here's a bit of that:

Burnbarrel was the name of a 1999 release on the Heathen label, the original home of Tim Easton's "Special 20" album the year before. The "band" was Tim Easton, JP Olsen (lyricist for many of Tim's song and formerly of The Beetkeepers -- more on them in a sec), a coupla Haynes Boys and the bass player from Special 20. Burnbarrel was basically a showcase for Olsen -- he wrote all the songs and sings them, too. It's a fine album -- lots of strange songs and odd characters and, not surprisingly, it bears more than a passing sonic similarity to the mighty 1996 Haynes Boys album. For Easton fans it's significant cuz it features the original versions of two songs Tim would later cover (a stripped down "Far Rockaway"/"John Gilmartin" and a truly amazing version of "Bad Florida"). Anybody who's familiar with the Olsen songs that Easton has done over the years know that his lyrical skills are quite accomplished and rather distinctive -- his songs are often very literary and full of interesting, memorable characters (i find myself thinking of the likes of John Prine and Warren Zevon when i listen to his words -- pretty high praise i guess). Olsen has been in and out of the music biz over the last few decades, balancing a career in journalism with his songwriting. Burnbarrel are supposedly still a viable thing and were slated to have a new album out last year, but i don't remember hearing anything about it lately. 

New Additions: Reviled! album by Burn Barrel

Burn Barrel's 1999 album Reviled! is not that easy to come by, which surprised me. CDs tend to have the lowest resale/easiest acquisition ratio, even more-so than cassettes, whose more fragile nature makes them a bit more scarce. In the case of Burn Barrel, this is the first instance where "addition" simply means "listening on Spotify," because I wasn't able to track down a copy of the album.

While I'm a music collector, the liner notes of albums have have been incredibly important and discovering the links and backstory to many albums and bands, so not having the physical release is disappointing, but it's the music that counts. And the music here is very good. Elements of 90s alternative country tinged with occasional psychedelic freak-out jamming and 70s singer/songwriter balladry all mix nicely.

Know Yer Band: Burn Barrel

Band: Burn Barrel

Members
Vocals/Guitar - JP Olsen
Guitar/Vocals - Tim Easton
Guitar/Vocals - Philip Park
Bass/Vocals - Matt Surgeson
Drums/Vocals - Jovan Karcic

Releases
1999 - Reviled! album (Heathen Records)