Rodney Carrington Nut Sack CD

. Incl. 2 Duets W/ Lisa Cochran

Personnel: Rodney Carrington, Lisa Cochran (vocals); Michael Clark (acoustic & electric guitars); Sandy Williams, Mike Noble, Michael Spriggs (acoustic guitar); Pat Buchanan (electric guitar); Robby Turner (steel guitar); Larry Franklin (fiddle); Tony Harrell (strings); Jim Farrelly (flute, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Tom Meyer (clarinet, alto & tenor saxophones); Joey Tartell, Jeff Conrad (trumpet); Jared Rodin (trombone);
Bob Hoban, Steve Allee (piano); Frank Smith (acoustic bass); Dave Pomeroy (bass); Milton Sledge, Dane Clark (drums); Kevin Kaiser (percussion); The Ordinaires (background vocals).
Producers: Rodney Carrington, Tom Griswold, Steve Allee.
Recorded at Emerald Entertainment, Nashville, Tennessee; Saga Studios, Indianapolis, Indiana and The Victory Theatre, Evansville, Indiana.
Personnel: Michael Clark (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Dave Pomeroy, Michael Spriggs (acoustic guitar); Michael Noble, Pat Buchanan (electric guitar); Robby Turner (steel guitar); Larry Franklin (fiddle); Tony Harrell (strings); Jim Farrelly (flute, tenor saxophone); Tom Meyer (clarinet, tenor saxophone); Joey Tartell, Jerry Conrad (trumpet); Bob Hoban, Steve Allee (piano); Randy Melson (electric bass); Milton Sledge (drums); Kevin Kaiser (percussion); The Ordinaires (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Steve Tillisch; John Saylor.
Recording information: Emerald ENtertainment, Nashville, TN; Saga Studios, Indianapolis, IN; Victory Theater, Evansville, IN.
Editor: John Saylor.
Photographer: Dean Dixon.
Rodney Carrington once again divides an album between his standup comedy and a group of comic songs. On the first five tracks, he delves into embarrassing medical and sexual matters, although he seems unembarrassed himself. He gives particular attention to the subject of prostate examinations in "Hypochondriac," revealing an extreme state of homophobia. His sexually obsessed humor has no wit to speak of, but earns laughs for its uninhibited character. Then it's on to the songs, all of them candidates for Dr. Demento. "Carlos, Man of Love" and "Letter to My Penis" are repeated from earlier records. "It's Too Late," a duet with Lisa Cochran, details the deterioration of a romantic relationship in explicit terms. The song is also presented in a "radio edit version" that eliminates one vulgar word but retains its overall tone. (It's amazing what you can get on the radio these days.) ~ William Ruhlmann
Coming on like some kind of cross between the hick satire of Jeff Foxworthy and the country music parodies of Cledus T. Judd, Rodney Carrington connected to the down-home comedy audience in a big way with the not-so-subtly titled NUT SACK. The album is split evenly between live stand-up routines and music. On the stand-up half, Carrington tackles familiar subjects like marriage, work, and medicine, but with a southern twist. The musical numbers aren't parodies of existing songs a la Cledus, but highly comical original compositions. Ironically, the music backing Carrington's uproarious lyrics is more traditional honky-tonk than almost anything coming out of mainstream Nashville; many of these tracks could be outtakes from, say, an old Moe Bandy album. Lyrically, the songs are redolent of vintage Ray Stevens, or of the material Shel Silverstein wrote for Bobby Bare in the '70s.