Goin' Home

It's hard to resist Goose Creek Symphony, an unabashed hillbilly outfit who like to rock a little, mess around with bluegrass, and tell fractured tall tales in a back porch style that falls somewhere between an Appalachian version of the Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa (if Zappa had been raised in Kentucky). Goin' Home might not be as sharp as the group's classic early albums from the 1970s (Established 1970, Words of Earnest), but it shares the same irreverent country joy, and leader (and main songwriter) Charlie Gearheart's odd, sideways view of life is as arresting and infectious as the jaw harp he frequently plays. Among the highlights here are the country funky "Gob Sows," the slow-down plea "Livin' in a Panic," and the bizarre (but totally normal in Goose world) "Say "Hi" to the Toad." Listeners new to the Creek's down-the-holler shenanigans might want to start with the earlier albums, but already converted Gooseheads will no doubt welcome any new installment from this amazingly long-lived band.