Little Rebellion Music

Chris Shiflett’s resume speaks for itself as a member of the Foo Fighters, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, among other projects, but his project, Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants is his foray into full on country music

The pairing of certain songs with certain singers is a thread that’s run through country music since its beginnings. The right singer can take a seemingly average song and turn it into a masterpiece with the right interpretation. Unfortunately this is one case where the singer and the song are at odds. ‘Guitar Pickin’ Man’ is a cover of a classic Don Rich & The Buckaroos song that’s on The Dead Peasants’ upcoming record All Hat and No Cattle. Interpretation is key with material like this and where Don Rich interpreted the song as slightly corny, and as such, sang it with a smirk, Shiflett’s rendition loses that, to its own detriment. It doesn’t help that the song hasn’t aged particularly well, so trying to sing such dated lyrics without that bit of humor makes it difficult to take seriously.

Delivery aside, his voice doesn’t really work in the song’s favor. A key change might have helped, but Shiflett’s reedy, nasal twang works a lot better with some of the more rockabilly material on the album, moreso than a classic country track like this. Shiflett’s phrasing is a bit awkward too, which makes it seem like he took a crash course in country music interpretation before hitting the studio (an issue I have with a lot of pop and rock artists who try to get into the country genre.)

The track’s instrumental arrangement and performance is its shining point though. Shiflett’s band plays fantastically, with excellent back and forth guitar parts, slipper steel guitar, manic drumming, and rock solid basslines. It’s a shame that Shiflett’s voice is the weak link in the mix.

I think you’d be better off listening to Don Rich’s original version of this song, but Shiflett and co. do an excellent interpretation of it that’s still worth listening to. There are other tracks on the band’s record that come across a lot better with what Shiflett has to work with vocally (‘Live Fast Love Hard Die Young’ being one of them) so don’t count them out just yet.

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Liv Carter

Liv is a career coach for creatives, and the people who work with them.
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.

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