no, seriously

Austin's Asylum Street Spankers are probably best known for their humorous and often raunchy songs. Behind the dick jokes, double entendres, and drug references though are some genuinely talented musicians with a real passion for music that make them far more than a novelty act.

So today I'd like to highlight a couple of their more serious efforts (not that they don't take the humor seriously). Stylistically, the Spankers are all over the map from blues to bluegrass to ragtime to jazz to country to rock. All of it tied together by a philosophy that playing and listening to music ought to be fun and by a general dislike of electricity (they play all acoustic instruments and, up until very recently, refused to use any kind of amplification at their shows). So, collected from various albums, here are some of my favorites:

• Hometown Boy (off Spanks for the Memories)
• Breathin (off My Favorite Record)
• You Made the Night Too Long (off the new album, Pussycat)
• Home (off Pussycat)

If you're new to the Spankers, I highly recommend catching them live. There really is nothing quite like it. They tour all over the US constantly, so you have no excuse to miss them. If you still can't do that, their live DVD, Sideshow Fez, is probably the next closest thing. You can buy it and all of their albums from their online store. I think the band fills the orders themselves though so ordering from them can be a little slow. Amazon will do if you're in more of a hurry. The truly impatient can find most of their stuff on iTunes.