If you need a shot of Jesus in your punkabilly, you could do a lot worse than the Pioneers. The band plays a potent mix of the devil’s chords (think Link Wray, the Cramps, the Trashmen, you know, the usual suspects) and chases it with some craaaaaaazy lyrics about laying rubber on the way to the house of the Lord. Conceptually, it might sound about as aurally satisfying as Christian death metal, but anyone who prizes their mom and dad’s Kitty Wells and Ernest Tubb records (or Mahalia Jackson and Curtis Mayfield) understands the man upstairs has, perhaps inadvertently, inspired some pretty good music. Songs like “Me and My Lord and My Hot Rod Ford” and “Cruzin’” pay as much allegiance to fat fenders and white walls as they do the old rugged cross and that’s where most listeners will want to leave it. Preachy tracks like “Battle Cry” are strictly for the initiated. Feel like testifyin’? Drop in on the Pioneers at the Hot Rod Church for Sinners in Mission Viejo, CA where they’re the house band, performing free (‘natch) every Sunday morning.
–eric (Self-released)