Never Make It Home

Split Lip Rayfield | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 20, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Bloodshot Records
• ASIN: B0000589GN
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #202,171 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Burning Kansas, May 17, 2004

By 

Kevin L. Nenstiel "omnivore" (Kearney, Nebraska) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Never Make It Home (Audio CD)

Kansas may be the flatest state in the Union, but they've produced some sharp artists through the years. Split Lip Rayfield is just one such, a kick-ass bluegrass ensemble that plays traditional music with one of the sharpest edges out there today. In a day and age when Oh Brother Where Art Thou threatens to trap bluegrass in a Depression-era museum case, Split Lip Rayfield plays string band music for the new milennium.

The only unifyning theme on this album is the undisputed picking power of the artists. It's all string music--no keys, no drums, just strings. But there's no risk of it all sounding the same. From upbeat rockers like Kiss of Death to honky-tonk beauties like Drink Lotsa Whiskey, country chestnuts like Love Please Come Home to iconoclasty like Dime Story Cowboy, this album never gives you a chance to take the band for granted.

Split Lip Rayfield is famous for their live shows, and of course an album can never match up to that. Still, this is shimmy music for Hell's own square-dance. If you want a string band album that will make you jump out of your chair and scream for more, this is it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Split Lip Rayfield Delivers!!, July 17, 2001

By 

Anthony Bickel (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Never Make It Home (Audio CD)

Ther aint many albums out there that can turn heads asking,"Who is this"? and make people(like myself) call the radio station asking. Split Lip delivers such an album. I have their other two, and recommend them highly, but this is the one to have. This record shows the bands maturity in their song writing skills and their harmonies have never sounded better. It is a beautiful thang!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bad luck never sounded so sweet, March 21, 2001

By 

Alayne Peterson "katydidmama" (Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Never Make It Home (Audio CD)

This is get-drunk-and-dance-around-naked music from my favorite speed metal bluegrass band. I've been looking forward to this release ever since I saw them last summer; many of the songs I couldn't get out of my head back then are on this disc. The playing is as taut as ever--aggressive yet loses nothing in pickin' technique. The sounds that Jeff Eaton can coax out of Stitchgiver (the gas tank bass with a weedeater string) never fail to amaze me. Five of the 14 songs are penned by their mandolin player, Wayne Gottstine--including the song has stuck with me since last summer, 'Used to Call Me Baby' -- "Nighttime drives me crazy/I bang my fists on the wall/She used to call me baby/Now she don't call at all." Damn. That's the kind of country blues that makes you sit down with a bottle of whiskey..'Drink Lotsa Whiskey'. Good thing there are plenty of quick-pickin' songs to go around; Kirk Rundstrom's lightning fast playing fits seamlessly with Eric Mardis' relentless banjo on songs like "Thief," "Kiss of Death," and the title track "Never Make It Home." Keep an eye out for them--it's not often you get to headbang to acoustic music.