The Meat Purveyors

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The Meat Purveyors
Origin Austin, Texas Flag of the United States
Genre(s) Alt country, Bluegrass
Label(s) Bloodshot Records
Website http://themeatpurveyors.com/
Members
Bill Anderson, Jo Stanli Walston, Cherilyn DiMond, Pete Stiles
Former members
Nora Floyd

The Meat Purveyors are an Alt country bluegrass band from Austin, Texas. The Meat Purveyors consist of Bill Anderson[1] (an Austin Music Hall of Fame inductee[2]) on guitar, Jo Stanli Walston on vocals, Cherilyn DiMond on upright bass, and Pete Stiles on mandolin. Founded in 1996, the band released five records on the Bloodshot label between 1998 and 2006.

Contents

[edit] Musical Style and Influence

The Meat Purveyors have a wide range of influences, as evidenced by the variety of artists that they pay tribute to in their recorded covers, including songs by Ronee Blakley, Nick Lowe, ABBA, and Ratt.[3] The band also has a reputation for "sassy stage play", "immaculate harmonies" and "a relentless percussive pace".[4]

[edit] Band History

[edit] Formation

In Austin, Texas, during the summer of 1996, Bill Anderson and Jo Walston (who had previously collaborated as members of the band Joan of Arkansas) initated the formation of The Texas Meat Purveyors, and quickly drew Cherilyn DiMond, Pete Stiles and Nora Floyd into the project.

[edit] Sweet in the Pants and More Songs About Buildings and Cows

In the spring of 1997, the Texas Meat Purveyors played a showcase at South By Southwest. A representative from Bloodshot Records was on hand, and after the showcase he offered the band a recording contract and they accepted.

At this point, the band renamed themselves "The Meat Purveyors", to avoid infringing on the use of "Texas Meat Purveyors" by an actual meat purveying business that was also operating in Austin, Texas. In late 1997, the band released their first album on the Bloodshot label, Sweet in the Pants.

In the summer of 1999 the band released More Songs About Buildings and Cows. However, by New Year's Eve 1999/2000, the band went on hiatus, announcing that they had broken up for good.

[edit] Reunion and Later Recordings

In September 2001, the Meat Purveyors regrouped and by the end of that year they released the new album, All Relationships are Doomed to Fail. In the summer of 2004, the Meat Purveyors released Pain by Numbers, their fourth album on the Bloodshot label. The Meat Purveyors released their most recent Bloodshot album, Someday Soon Things Will Be Much Worse!, in the summer of 2006.

[edit] Discography

  • Sweet in the Pants (Bloodshot Records, 1998)
  • More Songs About Buildings and Cows (Bloodshot, 1999)
  • All Relationships Are Doomed to Fail (Bloodshot, 2002)
  • Pain By Numbers (Bloodshot, 2004)
  • Someday Soon Things Will Be Much Worse! (Bloodshot, 2006)

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "Badass: Bill Anderson, Still Cracking That Whip" by Bill Caligiuri in The Austin Chronicle, July 30, 2004.
  2. ^ Austin Chronicle Music Poll Hall of Fame inductees
  3. ^ Review of All Relationships Are Doomed to Fail in The Village Voice, June 10, 2002.
  4. ^ "Constant Sorrow: The Meat Purveyors: as always, high and lonesome" by Scott Holter in Seattle Weekly, July 31, 2002.