If you like mild mannered women, this album isn’t for you.
If you enjoy damsels with an adventurous sense of humor, then kindly make your way to the Replay for Sugar Britches’ album release show this Sunday evening for Quit Yer Britchin’.
After launching their act in the Spring, the band received such a great response that they headed into the studio over the summer. That’s where they diligently plugged away at an impressive 11-track album showcasing all their crude personalities. There are four women in this foul-mouthed folk act, and each one of them have varying degrees of disgust with men and their behavior. One might write a heartbreaking song, while another will write a song with lines like “You catch more bees with honey, but darling you smell like shit.”
Despite their differing personalities, they all come together beautifully on drawn out harmonies on just about every single track (“Don’t Drink The River” and “Shame”). These beautiful moments are tied together by guest string players on the album, and interesting pops of vaudeville-esque riffs from the keyboard/accordion player. A kazoo even makes an appearance in “Mama’s Kitchen.”
Alcohol is a big theme on this album as well. We wouldn’t recommend getting into a drinking contest with the women in Sugar Britches… unless you enjoy waking up naked, broke, and alone. “Pizza and Sex” is a song that particularly details the tom-foolery these girls get into when drinking (we’re not going to question the validity of these details). Lines like “Why am I so sticky?”, “Where the hell am I?”, and “Where’d I get this sore up under my tum?” are signs of a rough night with only one reasonable remedy (pizza and sex, duh). The best part of this song is towards the end when they declare another round of drinking, and you hear a man (distantly) cry out in agony (it was probably Nicholas St. James).
By the end of this album, there is not a doubt in our minds… there is no way on earth anyone can keep up with these vicious vixens. Don’t let their vibrant sundresses and naked, painted toenails fool you. These women like it wild, and they’re not ashamed of it. They’re defining a folky brand of noir, with lines like “I may be just a woman, but I can hurt you just the same” in “Just A Woman.” Isn’t that wonderfully brazen? Don’t you just miss that type of boldness in bluegrass? It’s there, but not always so prevalent. “I done lost my sugar britches, must have been obscene,” they announce unapologetically on “Pizza and Sex” (really, that song is just the best, you can watch it below). We wouldn’t expect them to apologize. So, as the title of the album suggesrts, quit yer britchin’ and enjoy the Sugar Britches in all their classless glory at the Replay this Sunday at 5:00 p.m. with Nicholas St. James.
Words and photos by Fally Afani