Red Meat – Albums

LIVE AT JACK'S SUGAR SHACK (2021, Two disc set, Recorded live at Jack's Sugar Shack, Hollywood, CA)

Track Listing

DISC ONE
1. Introduction by Ronnie Mack
2. 14 Hours from Tulsa
3. Highway of Heartaches
4. Streets of Baltimore
5. Cry a Little Bit
6. Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line
7. The Show Must Go On
8. Truck Drivin' Man
9. Above and Beyond
10. Marie
11. Girl with the Biggest Hair
12. He Stopped Loving Her Today
13. Something's Just Not Right
14. Six Pack to Go
15. Poverty Line
16. 12 Inch 3 Speed Oscillating Fan

DISC TWO
1. Jill and Smelley Love Each Other More Than Money
2. Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way
3. Nashville Fantasy
4. Inner Redneck
5. One Woman Man
6. Broken up and Blue
7. Lolita
8. Texas Texas
9. You Gotta Be My Baby
10. The Heartache's on Me
11. Teetotalin' Time
12. Smelley's Corner
13. Deep Water
14. Black and White
15. I'm No Stranger
16. Cattle Drive
17. Ring of Fire
18. Baby Beats Me the Best

"If you understand legitimate rootsy country music, listening to the band Red Meat is satisfying in a way not unlike scratching that hard to reach itch way in the middle of your back. They have a deep groove all their own that only a truly committed band with years of seasoning manages to discover" Red Hook Star-Revue

"You find yourself absorbed in their California honky tonk world filled with good humor, good songs, and excellent musicians." Zero Hour (Top 10)

LIVE AT THE WORLD'S SMALLEST HONKY TONK (2010, Recorded live at the Cinema Bar, Culver City, CA)

Track Listing

1. Intro
2. Above and Beyond
3. City Slicker
4. Texas Texas
5. Go on Home, Mr. Johnson
6. Midwest Blues
7. Thriftstore Cowgirl
8. Motorcycle Cowboy
9. Truck Drivin' Man
10. Jill and Smelley discuss the Summer of Love
11. Baby Beats Me the Best
12. Moonrock
13. Honky Tonk Habit
14. Queen of King City
15. High Maintenance Babe
16. Kiss the Children
17. Big River
18. The Memory of Your Smile
19. California Blues
20. 12 Inch 3-Speed Oscillating Fan
21. Lolita
22. 14 Hours From Tulsa
23. Highway of Heartaches
24. I'm Gonna Leave Here Shoutin'
25. Ring of Fire
26. Sparklin' Brown Eyes (Rambleshackle Shack)

"This disc captures the band in all its irreverent, genial honky tonk glory." San Antonio Express-News

"It will get you out of your seat and on your feet." Stephen King, writing in Entertainment Weekly

"This is a band that raises all manner of honky-tonk shitfire, due in no small part to the audacious stage antics of a singer who calls himself Smelley Kelley and flaps about onstage like a bandy-legged rooster with a coyote nipping at his ass feathers, all the while emitting a yee-haw racket akin to a penful of hogs feeding orgiastically under a full moon." – OC Weekly

"We Never Close is Red Meat's fourth, and finest, album...a knockout time start to finish." No Depression

"Red Meat's contribution to the Americana universe is to stoke the legendary fires of that old Bakersfield sound, as once done by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Oakland honky tonkers Red Meat have absorbed a wide spectrum of their predecessors, and their country music is not "all hat"; they go far beyond aping their influences and capture some of that cosmic American soul that Gram Parsons was chasing after on We Never Close. Simply put: this is a great country album that nods to an era when "country" meant something altogether different." AllMusic.com

"They come hailed as California’s finest honky tonk band...do the claims have musical merit? Yep! Let them claim the title. My take on We Never Close? I loved it. Musically, there’s not a dud in the pack. For an album of honed and lyrically satisfying tunes, this is one band not to miss when they hit your local bar; and this is one album you need for the collection…after all, they are California’s finest." – CountryStarsOnline.com

"From the opening twanging of "Honky Tonk Habit" Red Meat firmly establishes their pedigree as a Bakersfield-influenced country group...good material and great arrangements...a great listen that's never boring, and would prove especially fun for those roots-rock fans with an affinity for twang." – Country Standard Time

"With the release of its third CD, Alameda County Line, the Bay Area's own Red Meat confirms itself as not only the best local representative of the no frills honky-tonk Central Valley traditions of Bakersfield (Merle Haggard, Buck Owens) and Modesto (Maddox Brothers and Rose), but one of the best country bands working outside the pop constraints of Nashville, period." SF Bay Guardian

"The sound consists of expertly performed hard-core honky tonk and western swing, with Young's solid lyrics and sense of humor highly visible. Good times and polished grooves abound from beginning to end." San Jose Mercury News

"The third album by West Coast honky-toners Red Meat is a well-produced, highly listenable affair...Alternating between scruffy and smooth, the whole project hums under Dave Alvin's production. Classic country music, born 3,000 miles away from Nashville." – Billboard

"The band puts a gleeful spin on the tight, propulsive sound of West Coast stalwarts Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and Dwight Yoakam. On its third and latest album Alameda County Line, Red Meat also branches into Western swing, Willie Nelson-style country blues and nimble novelty numbers that are clever raather than corny." – Country Music Magazine

THIRTEEN (1999, Produced by Dave Alvin)

Track Listing

1. Cry a Little Bit
2. I'm No Stranger
3. I'm a One Woman Man
4. Teetotalin' Time
5. I Just Can't Get You off my Mind
6. Deep Water
7. The Show Must Go On
8. Marie
9. Baby Beats Me the Best
10. The Heartache's on Me
11. Poverty Line
12. Broken Up and Blue
13. Cattle Drive

"There's not a whiff of artifice – just the joy of making classic-sounding country." Los Angeles Times

"13 is a lucky number for everybody who thinks country music's been going downhill since the Buckaroos broke up. San-Francisco-based Red Meat sound like they stepped out of a time warp to show those smart-ass new traditionalists what old time country was really like" Country Standard Time

"The group's signature vocal harmonies and devastatingly twangy Telecaster frame the catchy and often funny originals perfectly: The breakdown on "12 Inch 3 Speed Oscillating Fan" blows our skirt way, way up. Must be the Bakersfield in us." SF Weekly

"This debut is an exhilarating introduction to the Bay Area honky tonk scene from the band leading the pack, Red Meat . Proud of the heritage they are carrying into the next millennium, Red Meat makes no bones about their affinity for Buck Owens , Don Rich and the Bakersfield sound. "Highway of Heartaches" is one heck of a ride right down the middle of the old San Joaquin Valley in spirit and content. Texas swing is given a face lift as they dive into "Texas-Texas," while their humor is flaunted on the hit "The Girl with the Biggest Hair" and the potent "Nashville Fantasy." Strong songwriting and execution makes this a disc bound to be played over and over again." Music.com