Jim Carson

To help me get over my music "rut" the past few weeks, a fellow prankster sent me a copy of Hayseed Dixie's A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC. My initial reaction to the concept of bluegrass renditions of hard rock involved spewing food at the monitor with laughter. However, once I cleaned the screen off, popped the CD in, put my headphones on, and listened, I found "AC/Dixie" was not bad.

Their web site shows two other albums, including "Mountain Love" (with renditions of classics like Walk this Way, Cat Scratch Fever, and I Love Rock'n'Roll) and "Kiss my Grass," a tribute to the 70s band KISS. Funny, but I'll pass for now.

For grins, I also consulted the great spendinator, which recommended Pickin' on Zeppelin. The samples reminded me very much of Muzak, which doesn't have that much appeal to me., though there are quite a few of these Pickin' tributes.

Another good series is KMTT's Live from the Mountain Music Lounge. I have volumes 6 - 9 (direct) and 2 (thanks to eBay). The live, acoustic renditions are excellent and have extended my music interests. The show has reruns during the day and often presents some real gems. For example, a couple of weeks ago Colin Hay (of Men at Work fame) did a live, acoustic version of the 80s hit "Down Under." KMTT archives the last few months of current performers on their web site, though I'd love a way to to listen to the previous ones.

And while I'm at it, I wanna find more songs where bands do covers for others, kind of like Encomium, but less formal. Does anyone have good/bad experiences with iTunes or Rhapsody?