Banjo & Sullivan: The Ultimate Collection

Banjo & Sullivan | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 28, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hip-O Records
• Run Time: 32 minutes
• ASIN: B0009SCUWY
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #145,612 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

It's a tragic story--struggling musicians who finally experience success only in death, that which they could never achieve in life. Banjo & Sullivan disappeared amid a series of heinous homicides and were basically forgotten-–until now, that is.

Kentucky-born guitar ace Roy Sullivan was a Nashville session player in the '60s before teaming with Adam "Fingers" Banjo, a banjo picker from Mississippi. Their 1972 debut album, Two Silver Tongue Devils (Who Ain't Got a Clue), was followed by 1974's Wasted Banjos and Drunken Guitars. Sullivan then married Gloria Harrison, a respected studio singer, who joined the group on piano and backing vocals. In summer 1975, "I'm at Home Getting Hammered" hit #34 on the country chart and "She Didn't Like Me, but She Loved My Money" reached #23. In 1977, Banjo married backup singer Wendy Clark and she joined on backing vocals and tambourine.

The next year, while touring in support of the latest album Where the End Meets the Road and the single "Lord, Don't Let Me Die in a Cheap Motel," B&S checked into the Kahiki Palms Motel after a rousing run of gigs. While the exact details of the grisly crime are unknown, what is certain is that Gloria, Wendy, and roadie Jimmy Cracker were murdered there by a group later dubbed the Devil's Rejects. Roy and Adam were never found and were presumed dead.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Genius Movie Tie-In, July 2, 2005

By 

Jeb Nome - See all my reviews

This review is from: Banjo & Sullivan: The Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

"Rob Zombie Presents..." a country album. Darn Tootin'! This has been a fairly electic summer for movies. From the last Star Wars, a stylish and smart Batman and finally a long-awaited Romero Zombie film, one other gets forgotten by many except the die-hard horror purist. The Devil's Rejects, Rob Zombie's sequel to the "love it or hate it" House Of 1000 Corpses. Frankly, aside from it's somewhat scattershot execution, love it, and can't wait for the sequel.

But this review isn't for the movie (released July 22nd) but for this bit of ingenius marketing "gimmickery". I only put the word gimmickery in quotations because the words denotes something tacky, which it may be to some who don't get the joke.

What is the joke? Well the premise of it is that Banjo & Sullivan were a country group on the rise when they were slaughtered by the Firely Family AKA the Devil's Rejects in a cheap motel room. The irony was that their posthumous hit was called "Lord, Don't Let Me Die In A Cheap Motel"

Of course there was never a Banjo & Sullivan, they are just a couple sheep that end up killed in the upcoming film. But the music on this short CD (thirty minutes) is real, and performed by a real country musician named Jesse Dayton. And you know what, these are good country songs. They are written and performed beautifully. This isn't the watered-down country you would hear from a Garth Brookes and others of his ilk, but good old dirty, and I mean dirty, country music. Not only is it good country music, but it makes me curious to see how these "good old boys" meet their maker.

Let me say to you Rob Zombie fan out there however, that there is no bone-crunching guitars or gravely vocals nor macabre undertones. This is a straight-up, no chaser country album. And you know what? What better compliment to a straight, no chaser horror movie than this could there?

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best country albums this year!, July 18, 2005

By 

CJB (Oklahoma City, OK USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Banjo & Sullivan: The Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

Don't let the fact that Banjo and Sullivan are just characters in a movie jade your opinion of this album, real or not this is one of the best country releases of the year. The songs have a depth to them that a lot of the newer "pop" country acts lack, this is old school country, there is no cursing, no, just drinking, degrading women, sex, homophobia, trailer park ideals taken to the max and upmost offensive level.

If you enjoyed the Devil's Rejects or if you're a fan of the way country music should be, buy this album!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great Zombie creation, July 9, 2005

By 

Matt Clark "TheSeaBass" (Dayton, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Banjo & Sullivan: The Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

Wait...an album from a fictitious band in a fictitious movie? Can you be serious? Well, sorta.
Although this band was conjured from the depths of Rob Zombie's upcoming film "The Devil's Rejects", it really has some heart to it. Being an old-school country fan myself, I can tell you this album is no joke. It's great country music that takes the time to poke fun at itself and the Nashville sound of the seventies. If you enjoy those great, old jukebox ballads give this record a try. I think you'll be glad you did.