Okra Pods Album of the Month

This month's spotlight shines on 2007's Unravelling Hillbillies, the album that lampooned the Travelling Wilburies. The Okra Pods make another rare partnering with Elvin Parsley to weave us through yet another wry collection of rocking hits.

"Derik and I were drinking in Denver after a show at a bar called Bar Fins when Handle Me With Care played on the jukebox", recalls Dave. "Derik starts singing about Anna's dairy aire and the next thing you know we are writing idea after idea down on napkin after napkin. Somewhere along this creative journey Derik looks at me and says that there is only one way to do the perfect parody. He was correct of course. The only way to do the perfect parody was to have a fifth Pod in the band so we turned once again to Elvin Parsley... the frigging hothead."

The band put behind their pasts with Elvis impersonator Elvin Parsley and recorded another awesome album with Elvin taking vocals anywhere Roy Orbison had sang on the original recordings.

"Elvin had the impression that he would sing everything", sneers Dave. "Talk about one hell of a confrontation. That jerk went ballistic one evening and destroyed my favorite guitar. Needless to say, I beat the ever-loving crub out of that fat S.O.B. We knew his track record and made sure we had him record all his tracks before we told the putz that he was not singing lead on Head Was Full of Lice. Elvin is a HUGE George Harrison fan so this news made him mad... but when we added that he was not going to sing lead on anymore songs, Elvin just soared over the edge. I just wished we were smart enough to have him do some backing tracks before he bolted on us."

There are eleven cool tracks on the album...
01. Anna’s Dairy Aire (aka Handle Me with Care)
02. I’m Not Crazy (aka She’s My Baby)
03. Those Girls Gone Wild (aka Nobody’s Child)
04. Geezer Was a Funky Man (aka Tweeter and the Monkey Man)
05. Scatterbrain (aka Runaway)
06. Drinking Some Wine (aka End of the Line)
07. Head Was Full of Lice (Headed For The Light)
08. A’ Bakin’ a Squirrel (aka American Girl)
09. Last Rights (Last Night)
10. Online Relations (aka Congratulations)
11. Hillbilly Bris (aka Willbury Twist)

The album only has one odd juncture... but it works! Track number eight, A' Bakin' a Squirrel, is not a parody of a Travelling Wilburys song. This is a parody of Tom Petty's American Girl. This track fits in perfectly because of the "hillbilly" content as the song sings about cooking squirrels and roadkill.

From start to finish, the Okra Pods' 49th album is a fine tribute to George Harrison's grand collection of muses. Hopefully this album will come out of print one day!

- Amy Ladeedada, President of the Okra Pods Fan Club.



Baking a Squirrel
© 2007 Dave Jones and the Okra Pods

Well, she was just a’ baking a squirrel.
Glazed with caramel.
She stopped all the stinking in there
With a little of the spice
From the shelf.

After all it was a great big squirrel
Which made it kind of hard not to run into.
Yeah, and it popped her tire
On her jeep
But she raced it home
So it would keep.

Oh Yeah. All right.
Tastes real greasy baby.
Yet kinda tough to bite.
She was a’baking a squirrel.

It was just not tasting quite right.
Kind of like old and nasty balony.
She was hearing all the cars nearby
And wonder if she’s heard a hit and run
When she would hear the tires screach!

So she had to go and see what’s there.
She jumped into her SUV.
Hope it is still cool.
Something that’s not squished.
And still fresh and does not reak.

Oh Yeah. All right.
Tastes real greasy baby.
Yet kinda tough to bite.
She was a’baking a squirrel.