There’s something odd and irresistible about Hasil Adkins. I can’t say I ever really liked his music and his amount of talent can be debatable. However there is no debating the sincerity and enthusiasm of this rockabilly outsider. He was essentially a one man band , singing and playing guitar and drums at the same time with an abandonment usually reserved for revival meetings and drunken funeral wakes.

Ex WFMU DJ and renegade record collector The Hound (no relation to missing-in-action Blues_Hound), writes on his blog about his experiences with Hasil when the rocker appeared on his radio show. Hasil later gave him a 90 minute cassette that he recorded at home. The Hound is now offering fifteen tracks of this prize possession to the public for downloading and amusement.To say it sounds like it was recorded in a garage is an understatement, more like in a coffee can in a garage. But once I got past the bad sound, I found some of the best and most infectious Hasil Adkins I have ever heard. I can understand why this marginally talented artist of country outsider music gained such a cult reputation and influenced other barely-in-the-mainstream artists like The Cramps. The raucous spirit of “Waitin’ for the Graveyard” almost goes over the top while “Me and Jesus (Got it All Worked Out)” is a peppy but sincere gospel number. You can certainly hear Hasil’s influence on Lux Interior from “Kill Em Rock”. There are some fairly traditional country blues tracks in “Madison Boone County Blues” and “Catch Me a Train” and a very bizarre but somewhat rude “Ugly Chelsea Clinton Hunch”. This is actually a pretty good introduction to this unique performer and if I hear a few more recordings like this one I might actually start liking him!

This album can be found on The Houndblog but the download is excruciatingly slow. Better to download from the link below which is a mirror site located at WFMU’s Beware of The Blog. It is available in 128kbps MP3.

Download