Lambchop

Lambchop is a unique musical outfit, based in Nashville around singular songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Kurt Wagner and known to include a revolving corps of between six and 20 members, most making their contributions to the band outside of various professional careers.

The group created its soul-country-rock hybrid in the early '90s, releasing dual-titled debut I Hope You're Sitting Down/Jack's Tulips in 1994, but really began to achieve notoriety with 1997's Thriller, which furthered the group's vision through songs like "Your Fucking Sunny Day" and covers of four songs by F.M. Cornog, aka reclusive indie icon East River Pipe. A stronger distillation of Lambchop's influences surfaced on 1998's What Another Man Spills, on which Cornog covers and a trademark version of Curtis Mayfield's "Give Me Your Love" juxtaposed with delicately rendered originals.

But Lambchop's greatest achievements to date are the successive releases of 2000's Nixon and 2002's Is A Woman. The former eloquently fused the band's love of pastoral country music and bombastic, Bacharachian pop arrangements with its classic soul leanings. Songs like the epic opener "The Old Gold Shoe" and "Nashville Parent" incorporated heretofore dissonant styles into silken smooth compositions with evocative lyrics describing country life and the beauty of the average moment.

Is A Woman retreated into quietness with an intricately constructed 11-track masterpiece of lyrical eccentricity and sonic restraint. Songs like the haunting "Caterpillar" and sunset-musing "The New Cobweb Summer" illustrated Lambchop's sound with only a few decibels but many aural shades. Wagner, having finally quit his day job laying floors, drew himself deeper into the Lambchop world and produced his masterpiece.

Album reviews

Is A Woman (Recommended)
Merge (2002)
Lambchop's sixth album should be listened to at loud volume.

Nixon (Recommended)
Merge (2000)
Lambchop's Nixon is like a vivid painting of a life.

Thriller
Merge (1997)
The library system in Portland, Oregon -- where I live -- is amazing. Who would guess that a public library would have such an amazingly diverse selection of music to borrow? I've found everything from Sun Ra to James Brown's Funky Christmas on their vast shelves, and, consequently, I always use the library to try before I buy.

Interviews

Double-album goodness
February 26, 2004
Nashville's inimitable country-rock-soul combo Lambchop is back with a pair of new records, the charmingly titled Aw Cmon and No You Cmon. NATN co-director Troy Carpenter talks with band leader Kurt Wagner.

Concert reviews

March 5, 2002
Knitting Factory, New York
For a band with 17 members that's been termed a "collective" and often uses horn and string sections, Lambchop seemed really cut down to size Tuesday night (March 5), as a mere six players were gathered on the stage at New York's Knitting Factory to reprise the group's latest, the quiet masterwork Is A Woman.