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Stereo Review, February 1998
Alanna Nash
If you like country music that's really country, check out the Ex-Husbands, a
Brooklyn-gone-Nashville trio that sounds raised on chicken-fried steak, Pearl
beer, and sawdust-on-the-floor dance halls. Welcome to the honky-tonk world of
"Johnny Walker Redneck" and the Waylon Jennings beat of "Love You Always."
Madly, baby, madly.
Relix, February,1998
Mick Skidmore
One of the best alternative country-rock bands around is the Ex-Husbands. The
band's self-titled debut on the Tar Hut label is a real roots rock gem. This
trio has a spirited sound that recalls the country side of Commander Cody &
the Lost Planet Airmen, but goes a lot further. Some of the songs are really
memorable, especially the rollicking "Johnny Walker Redneck," the moody
"Tequila, Salt and Lime" and the infectious "All the Way From Abilene." Every
song on this album, though, is quite impressive.
No Depression, Jan/Feb 1998
Conrad Floeter
Lounge Ax (Chicago, IL)
October 17, 1997
Getting an audience to listen to your music is always tough for a new band,
especially in the tiny little corner of the musical universe that is
alternative country (whatever etc.). It means playing opening slots for shows
in faraway towns hoping an audience cares, or even shows up.
That's what the Ex-Husbands were up to on this night, opening for a couple of
acts on local Bloodshot Records, playing for a handful of early birds, barflys
and the curious, and even a few fans who owned their debut CD on the small
indie label Tar Hut.
The Ex-Husbands play a combination of straightforward honky-tonk and '70s
country rock with more than a little of the mainstream '90s Nashville sound.
This is no small feat given the narrow confines of the band's classic power-
trio lineup (bass, drums, singer-guitarist). While this lineup has worked for
rock bands ranging from Cream to Husker Du, it's not often seen in country
music, given the music's vocal and instrumental demands.
It helps to have a major talent out front, and on this night, singer,
songwriter and guitarist Anders Thomsen showed he just might have the stuff to
pull it off. While bass player Michael Howard Smith and drummer Mark Miller
laid down a swinging rhythmic foundation and sweet backing vocals, Thomsen
delivered a variety of styles on guitar, from some nifty pickin' on a Bill
Monroe cover to gutbucket slide on "Tequila, Salt & Lime".
But it's Thomsen's vocals that make this band a treat. A classic country
baritone along the lines of Merle Haggard or Waylon Jennings, it's a sound
that makes it easy to overlook the fact that the bands' best songs (such as "I
Have A Ball" and "Johnny Walker Redneck") are way too tongue-in-cheek to be
put on a par with the work of these masters. Nevertheless, this is a band that
does appear to be having a ball and is more than ready to take its audience
along for the ride.
That the songs a band chooses to cover live are often a good indication of
where they're coming from and where they're headed. Toward the end of the set,
the Ex-Husbands launched into a rendition of Junior Brown's "Too Many Nights
In A Roadhouse", and the place really started jumping. The best performance of
the night followed, a cover of Billy Joe Shaver's "Hottest Thing In Town". The
fact that Thomsen introduced it by saying that Shaver had asked him to play it
was probably the best indication that the Ex-Husbands are a band to keep your
eyes and ears open for.
Country Music International (London), November 1997
Tim Perry
Two good ways to get attention if you're a new band on the block in Nashville:
1) think of an eye-catching name like this one; 2) have a singer like Anders
Thompsen whose big, tough, deep voice can make your jaw drop. The Ex's are
mere three-piece playing just guitar, bass and drums with that voice backed up
with the harmonies and shoutings of bassist Mark Miller. They cook up a
sometimes frenetic, amplified honky-tonk sound, but lyrically it's a
derivative patchwork quilt: surely we've heard something very similar to 'I
spent the night in town last night/Trying to drink the county dry' somewhere
before? The rest of the album is littered with cliches about rodeos,
torrential rains and other achronisms, but what the hell? This debut CD will
keep on getting played and played largely for the uptempo blasts like I Have A
Ball, All the Way From Abilene and Johnny Walker Redneck. That's not to
mention their ear for a stonking tune . . . and of course, that voice.
Addictive.
Gavin, October 17, 1997
Chris Marino
No pretense here, just three guys playing some great, kick-ass country music.
Try some "Tequila, Salt and Lime" then get in your truck and drive "All the
Way From Abilene" you "Johnny Walker Redneck." If you can't find something in
this jewel case to play, it's time to get your hearing checked. With all the
records out there, be sure not to let this one slip through the cracks.
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