Down to the Promised Land: 5 Years of Bloodshot Records

Disc 1
1	Oh! Chicago / The Yayhoos 4:16
2	Evening Gown / Alejandro Escovedo 3:28
3	Making Love with You / Old 97's 3:24
4	Favorite / Neko Case 3:12
5	Roses Are Blooming / The Hollisters 2:39
6	Oh, Lonesome Me / Anna Fermin's Trigger Gospel 4:49
7	Sunshine / The Meat Purveyors 2:29
8	Money to Burn / Snakehandlers 3:35
9	I Hear a Sweet Voice Calling / The Handsome Family 3:44
10	Easy Ridin' Mama / Devil in a Woodpile 2:42
11	Please Take the Devil out of Me / Caitlin Cary 2:07
12	Why Drunky? / Blacks 3:18
13	The Least I Could Do / Supersuckers 5:02
14	Going Home / The Roughnecks 3:27
15	It's Too Late / Riptones 3:53
16	Hell or High Water / Johnny Dowd 4:14
17	Unforgiven / Hazeldine 4:31
18	Turn the Lights Down Low / Moonshine Willy 3:06
19	Blue Diamond Mine / Texas Rubies 3:29
20	Baba O'Riley / The Waco Brothers 3:55
Disc 2
1	Bloodshot's Turning Five / Robbie Fulks 3:00
2	Here Comes My Ball and Chain / Cornell Hurd 2:11
3	See Willy Fly By / Graham Parker 4:05
4	Looks Like I'm up Shit Creek Again / Nora O'Connor 3:57
5	Milk & Scissors / The Sadies 3:10
6	Broken AC Blues / Duane Jarvis 1:54
7	Wicked Saviour / Rex Hobart 3:28
8	Glue / Andre Williams 6:18
9	Guitar Playing Woman / Bobby Bare Jr. 4:35
10	Hard on Things / Giant Sand 3:39
11	Monday Night / Ryan Adams 3:55
12	Ghost on the Highway / Trailer Bride 2:33
13	I'd Like To / Mike Ireland 4:44
14	13 Nights / Jonboy Langford & the Pine Valley Cosmonauts 3:11
15	Hang Your Head in Shame / Grievous Angels 3:03
16	Last to Know / Deanna Varagona 5:05
17	Bring the Noise / Unholy Trinity 2:32
18	Brixton / Chip Taylor 3:22
19	Train Song / Split Lip Rayfield 1:53
20	Highway to Hell / Red Star Belgrade 3:35
21	Jon Rauhouse Wanking / Jon Rauhouse 0:40

Barnes & Noble

"There's a little place up Chicago way/where country punk came alive/They birthed it, nursed it, turned it loose/and now Bloodshot's turning five." So begins Robbie Fulks's musing on the Bloodshot saga "Bloodshot's Turning 5," and he should know: Fulks appeared on the label's first release, FOR A LIFE OF SIN: A COMPILATION OF INSURGENT CHICAGO COUNTRY, as did many of the artists on this essential compilation. DOWN TO THE PROMISED LAND celebrates the label's fifth anniversary with a bargain-priced double-disc set of 40 new tracks; it's a treat for fans and a perfect introduction for neophytes. Fulks, the Old 97's, and the Waco Brothers have defined the insurgent country/cow-punk side of the alt-country genre; they're each represented here, as is the rest of the beer-soaked, unpretentious, rollicking Bloodshot roster and some like-minded comrades such as Giant Sand, Johnny Dowd, and Whiskeytown's Ryan Adams and Caitlin Cary. The songs careen from revved-up country punk (the Meat Purveyors, Bare Jr.) to overdriven old-time bluegrass (Moonshine Willy, Split Lip Rayfield) to heart-stopping ballads (the wonderful Neko Case, Alejandro Escovedo, and Kelly Hogan) to warped country soul (Andre Williams duetting with Sally Timms on "Glue," which ends up spelled "G-L-E-U"). Several of the cover versions attest to Bloodshot's inveterate sense of humor: The Wacos convert the Who's "Baba O'Riley" into a cow-punk bash, while the Unholy Trio remake Public Enemy's "Bring the Noise" as a rockabilly travesty. DOWN TO THE PROMISED LAND is country-punk heaven. Happy anniversary, Bloodshot. Steve Klinge

All Music Guide

As independent record labels go, five years is a lifetime. Half a decade and over 70 releases after a late-night drunken tirade against the music industry gave it life, Chicago's Bloodshot Records has proven itself to be perhaps the most important Americana-no Depression-alt-country heap.

The label has always prided itself in merging punk and country in the most unholy of matrimonies, and Down to the Promised Land proves the marriage works. Within the two-disc set's 40 tracks are excellent rock tunes from the likes of the Yahoos, the Waco Brothers (doing the Who's "Baba O'Riley"), aggressive cowpunk from the Roughnecks, and Trailer Bride, straight-up honky tonk from the Cornell Hurd Band and Nora O'Connor, and speedgrass from folks like the Meat Purveyors and Split Lip Rayfield. But the biggest moment? Without a doubt the Unholy Trio's low-fi cover of Public Enemy's "Bring the Noise," complete with strains of "Dixie" thrown in for good measure. John Duffy