Having spent the last decade bouncing from label to label, country comedian
Cledus T. Judd was just about to chuck it. Looking like a post-Celebrity Fit Club stud muffin on the cover of his 2007 release
Boogity Boogity was a good sign that
Cledus wasn't feeling his inner clown like he used to, but he's grimacing like a pro on the cover of
Parodyziac!!, a welcome return to form and literal return to the majors, seeing as how it landed on Warner Bros. With everything in place, the album ups the ante by kicking off with the biographical ("When Toby came out with 'I Love This Bar,' the next day I wrote 'I Love Nascar'/Sold a half-a-million at Wal-Mart") "Cledus T," a smart and silly redo of
Eric Church's "Springsteen." As the title points out,
Parodyziac!! is an album of mostly parodies with
Toby Keith's "Red Solo Cup" getting pumped up to "Double D Cups" while
Miranda Lambert's "The House That Built Me" visits both the hardware store and the bank, and winds up bankrupt in "The House That Broke Me."
Eric Church gets it again when his swampy "Creepin'" becomes "Tweetin'" ("I follow
Kiss and
Courtney Love, but they don't follow
Cledus T. Judd"), then there's
Little Big Town's "Pontoon," which turns into the romantic travesty "Honeymoon" ("Three night stay and free buffet at the Red Roof"). The great non-parody number is the redneck mansion anthem "Living Single in a Double Wide" ("Got a cooler full of beer singing 'Ring of Fire'/Have to sink pretty far to get much higher"), and those who enjoy
Cledus when he plays it serious get the warm closer "104 Amanda Street," a song where you can always go home again. Add it all up and
Parodyziac!! is
Cledus' funniest album in a decade. ~ David Jeffries