Ween Trolls Florida Georgia Line, Reunites The $hit Creek Boys at the Ryman
Any proper country music fan should know and love the rock band Ween’s foray into country music in the mid 90’s called 12 Golden Country Greats. Recorded at Owen Bradley’s legendary Bradley’s Barn studio at his farm just outside of Nashville, the album featured The Jordanaires as backup chorus singers, Country Music Hall of Famer Hargus “Pig” Robbins on piano, Nashville A-Team member Buddy Spicher on fiddle and mandolin, Charlie McCoy on banjo and harmonica, and a stable of other notable Nashville musicians affectionately dubbed “The Shit Creek Boys” who at the time were considered past their prime to some in Nashville, but were perfect for what Ween was trying to pull off.
12 Golden Country Greats has since become the stuff of country music cult legend, but you better not roll up to it expecting a completely straightforward and wholesome country music good time. Though some songs on the album fit that model and any humor and subversion is so well hidden you might as well be listening to country radio in 1966, Ween made their mark on the country experience by being offbeat, to downright ribald in places.
After releasing the album in 1996, Ween played a few select shows with elements of “The Shit Creek Boys,” reprising the studio magic of 12 Country Golden Greats. But since then, many of the songs have been backlisted in the Ween repertoire. That will all change when the duo plays a two-night residency at the Country Music Mother Church in Nashville centered around the record, with the remaining elements of The Shit Kickers backing them up on October 16th and 17th, 2018.
But that’s not all. The dates at the Ryman Auditorium are an extension of a run of shows Ween is doing that the band’s dubbing the “Florida Georgia Line Tour.” Playing October 13th in Miami, the 14th in St. Augustine, and October 19th and 20th in Atlanta, they decided to troll country music’s most notorious duo with their tour name. Only appropriate they would chase it with performances rekindling the country music magic of 12 Country Golden Greats.
READ: Vintage Album Review – Ween’s 12 Golden Country Greats
Tickets will presale Wednesday, August 15th for the Ryman shows, and go on sale to the gen pop on Friday, August 17th. This should be handled as a destination event. Ween fans, and fans of 12 Country Golden Greats will be flocking to Nashville for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
August 15, 2018 @ 8:38 am
That’s awesome and hilarious 🙂
August 15, 2018 @ 9:16 am
Hit the fuckin road!
August 15, 2018 @ 9:48 am
I tried getting into that Ween album twice in my lifetime. Most recently, when you wrote about it. Nothing.
October 9, 2018 @ 6:34 pm
You can wash my balls with a warm wet rag then.
August 15, 2018 @ 10:36 am
Went to Nelsonville last year and everyone was excited about Ween. Watched them perform and yep nothing for me.
August 15, 2018 @ 10:54 am
Can’t speak for the band. Can only speak for the album. It is purposely completely different from what they do live, so I’m not sure one is correlated with the other.
August 15, 2018 @ 11:41 am
My correlation would be that it would be hard for me to give the album even the slightest chance considering my one evening of Ween was enough to last me a lifetime. If it had been reversed and I heard about the album first, I may of gave it an honest chance.
August 15, 2018 @ 4:57 pm
They did split up for a while because of alcohol/drug issues and then reformed, I saw them before all that and it was a great fucking show but maybe some of the magic was lost after the reformation?
August 15, 2018 @ 6:18 pm
Piss Up A Rope and Fluffy should be on every country fans playlist
August 15, 2018 @ 7:52 pm
I’ve listened to this album all the way through twice tonight and now I’m on my third. I honestly had never heard of it before.
Trigger, I know I get out of line sometimes (whiskey is mostly to blame for that), but honestly I appreciate the hell out of what you do. I swear I find new music here on a weekly basis that I’d never find otherwise.
Keep fighting the good fight buddy.
August 15, 2018 @ 8:04 pm
Glad to be of service.
August 16, 2018 @ 7:21 am
You were just looking for an excuse to write about your boys in FGL.
August 16, 2018 @ 1:24 pm
Anyone going to a Ween show expecting to see/hear a country band, is ignorant enough to listen ONLY to country music. Do some research before you spend time/$ and then blast a brilliant band that you’re not intelligent enough to understand. Trump fans shouldn’t go to Ween shows.
August 16, 2018 @ 3:34 pm
Okay… I appreciate you coming here to defend Ween, but please don’t paint country fans with such a broad brush. Many country fans like Ween too, and many more appreciate the brilliance that was “12 Golden Country Greats.” We’re all Music fans.
August 16, 2018 @ 3:44 pm
One of the most country sounding lyrics of all time “I think I’ll spend the dog food money, but he’ll love me just the same.” From “Help me scrape the mucus off my brain.”
August 17, 2018 @ 10:05 pm
“Piss up a rope” was the closing song on Tuesdays at First Avenue for two years straight.
August 19, 2018 @ 12:19 pm
“Piss up a Rope” is honestly one of my favoritr country songs. Ween is a great band. I like most of their music. they can do it all. ????????
August 24, 2018 @ 5:12 am
Hilarious.
was never into Ween so never heard of that album… might have to give it a listen.