The Gourds release a "Haymaker!"

Haymaker!

For the past 15 years, The Gourds have been known for their legendary stamina. Live shows are events that attract loyal (and testosterone-heavy) audiences. The buzz around their latest is that it captures that live show energy. That's a pretty big promise. On stage, the five musicians are larger than life physically and especially musically because of their big voices and impressive instrument rotations. There is a lot of energy here, especially the tunes by Kevin "Shinyribs" ...

Noble Creatures

There are other good bands out of Austin, but is anyone wittier and wilder than The Gourds? (Their website, www.thegourds.com, touts them as "music for the unwashed and well-read.") At their best, their musicianship is superb, their lyrics playful and wacky and intriguing, in, say, a John Prine sense, and their chemistry rocks. Longtime fans, however, will find this latest CD a mixed bag. Horns jam with the band on the opening cut, an organ thickens many of the other tunes, the ...

Heavy Ornamentals

The Gourds, those weird and wacky Texas twisters of language and inventors of their own musical stew, are back with another mish mash of songs to whet your appetite. Moving just as easily from zydeco to folk, from waltzes to foot-stompin' beats and from blues to country rock, these Austin natives continue to confound critics and defy classification. In today's world of assimilated sounds and mainstream Nashville copycats, this genre-bending style is definitely a good thing. ...