The Legendary Shack Shakers

We had a great Christmas! All of my family came to our house. We had 16 people here. It was lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

After everyone left yesterday I got on ye ol' internet for a little surfing session. I thought about a question I had about one of my old favorite bands, This Train. This Train is not together anymore, but they were truly great. They had a rockabilly sound with a touch of punk - which they called punkabilly. They gained some popularity in the late 90s by opening for Rich Mullins on his final tour. Their lead singer and bass player, Mark Robertson, was also a member of Rich Mullins' Ragamuffin Band. After Rich's death I brought them out to the little church in California I was youth-pastoring at. Everyone loved them and they were super-nice guys.

Anyway, when I googled This Train, a wikipedia entry came up about them and it said that Mark Robertson had gone on to co-found a band called The Legendary Shack Shakers. I did not know this and they have already put out 3 CDs. After doing a little research on the Shack Shakers I quickly found out that they had some incredible reviews and a pretty strong underground following. So I downloaded their latest album, Pandelerium.

WOW!!!! This is one of the most incredible sounds I've ever heard. There is very little in the music industry that sets itself apart from anything else. These guys have a truly unique sound! Their music is exciting and ballsy - I can only describe it as "This Train on acid". This is the music you might expect to hear if you were having a dream of walking through a demented carnival. It's awesome. Vocally, it's very unique too. Lead singer and blues harpist, J.D. Wilkes, has this deep, gravelly, half-carnie/half-traveling evangelist voice that is unlike anything you've ever heard.

Despite Mark's roots, this is not technically a "Christian" band. I don't believe there's anything un-Chrisitian about the stuff they sing about. In fact, there are plenty of spiritual and biblical references. But if the occasional profanity gets to you, then this might not be your cup of tea. If you like fun, interesting, unique music that will rock your face off - check out The Legendary Shack Shakers. You won't regret it!