Chippin'

Hopefully you saw my column this week on punk-rock-drummer-gone-country-troubadour Chip Hanna (if not, read it now, you're obviously not working). I was under the weather a lot of this weekend and didn't get out to any shows, but yesterday Chip and his wife Erin had me over for some steaks and beers and to hit me off with some new material - so new it's not in the article this week. For one, his two-disc live CD set, Last Exit Live, is hot off the press, and it kicks fuckin' ass. Sound maestro Jack Maverick did a damn fine job, and you get a shitload of Chippy doing classic covers like "London Calling," "Man of Constant Sorrow," "Folsom Prison Blues," and more. Down below you'll find his cover of David Allen Coe's "You Never Even Called Me By My Name," which I threw up because it reminds me of an ex-girlfriend.

But even better than the live discs, Chip gave me a disc of ten new songs, recorded with twenty-year-old wunderkind Tim Martinez (hopin' I didn't spell his name wrong, Chip didn't write it down for me). Nonetheless, these songs eclipse even his latest studio album, Chip Hanna & the Berlin Three, which was supposed to be out last Friday but Chip's still waiting for the boxes of CDs with full art to arrive - anyway, look for that on his website, and try to catch one of his Wednesday night happy hour sets at Last Exit before he takes off to tour Europe in June.