The title pretty much sums it up: CMH has once again managed to take some great songs and, well, wreck them. To be fair, this album isn't bad because the production is poor (it isn't), and it doesn't fall flat because the Dust Bowl Cavaliers are lousy musicians (they aren't). From the attractive circus-inspired cover art right down to the vocalist's accurate replication of every one of Jack Black's grunts, howls, and bawdy asides, this is technically a well-made album. The problem here is that CMH's bland, studio-polished bluegrass doesn't hold a candle to the music it purports to pay tribute to. The brave souls who dip into this album are going to have to weather the triple threat of crisp, oddly disturbing hillbilly renditions of "Fuck Her Gently," "Keilbasa," and "Double Team" before they get to the decent stuff. "Wonder Boy" and "Tribute" take on a strangely appealing spaghetti Western-like quality as bluegrass songs, but it's not enough to make up for the unsettling grunts earlier on. Those looking for some deliciously awful
Tenacious D covers will adore this album, but everyone else will be better off sticking to the source material. ~ Margaret Reges