Mojo Box

Southern Culture on the Skids’ embrace of all things redneck has always been laced with irony, from their name on down. Well, so fucking what? Where does it say you can’t poke fun at the things closest to your heart? ’Cause that’s exactly what the long-running North Carolina outfit does here. There’s genuine affection behind Rick Miller’s white trash caricature on the twangy, surf-guitar blitz, “Doublewide.” Although his promise to quit his job, grow a beard, sit in a La-Z-Boy, and drink some beer are unquestionably tongue-in-cheek, he sounds completely sincere about making “a break to the countryside, where the stars still shine at night.” Between the roughed-up R&B of “Smiley Yeah Yeah Yeah,” the title track’s snarling rockabilly swing, the Skynyrd-ish stomp ’n’ boogie “It’s All Over but the Shoutin’,” and the rootsy ballad “Where Is the Moon,” there’s a surprisingly diverse range of sounds here. But it all fits together, held fast by Southern Culture’ love-hate relationship with their own dirty South.