Live Bait (Watermelon, 1996)

Here's a simple litmus test for this live EP: Do you have an "Impeach Hillary" bumper sticker on your car? Have you ever, with a straight face, referred to Newt Gingrich as a "statesman"? Have you ever quit a job becauseit interfered with your Rush Limbaugh-listening time?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, stop right here, you are not going to like "Live Bait." On the other hand, if you like witty lyrics, satire and bluegrass you just hitthe jackpot.

"Teenage Immigrant Welfare Mothers on Drugs," which leads offthis live album, savages the way Limbaugh and other powerful people blame some of the most helpless members of our society for the complicated problems we face. Newts are praised ("They're flexible and cute") - with one notableexception - on "Gingrich the Newt."

The Lounge Lizards aren't alwayspolitical: "Father of a Honky Tonk Girl" won't offend anybody but barflies,and "Highway Cafe of the Damned" won't offend anybody but Barry Manilow fans(his music fills the jukebox in Hell's truckstop), but they're alwayspolitically incorrect. Enjoy them now, while you still can.