Search - Statler Bros, Lester Roadhog Moran & Cadillac :: The Complete Lester "Roadhog" Moran & The Cadillac Cowboys

Imus favorite: rollicking country music spoof

Gilbert Doubet | California | 09/22/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A wonderfully colorful spoof about inept country-western musicians and the comical characters populating their backwoods radio broadcasts. It's understatement to say that a cloud follows this awful ensemble around. With a repertoire beyond their abilities and arrangements from beyond the Twilight Zone, their bid for musical fame misses by a country mile.
In the mid-Seventies, the Statler Brothers issued a pair of hilarious cult-humor LPs under the pseudonym "Lester `Roadhog' Moran & His Cadillac Cowboys." An instant hit with record collectors, DJs, and musicians, the two albums soon became hard-to-find treasures. Their cacophonous cuts have long been featured on underground FM radio shows. To this day, nationwide radio/TV personality Don Imus uses snippets from the albums on his daily morning program.
Now reissued on CD with bonus Ralph Emery "interviews," the two LPs are seeing new life, reaching yet another generation of fans. The 23-cut CD is a pastiche of botched melodies, wacko ad-libs, and gaffe-prone performances by a tenth-rate country band oblivious to its own incompetence. There's even an excruciating audition tape ham-handedly produced by the boys themselves. Taken together, the CD's quirky cuts are a sidesplitting but nevertheless endearing portrayal of backwater wannabe entertainers with no talent, no chance at stardom, and no clue how dreadful they are.
Some of the performances take place on tiny radio station WEAK. The fifteen-minute spots are sponsored by Burford's Barbershop. As the CD progresses, we come to know Burford, his customers, and other assorted redneck revelers. It's an anarchic mix of Stan Freberg, Jerry Springer and the Firesign Theater.
The remaining musical groaners and hick hi-jinks unravel at the Cadillac Cowboys' weekly live remote. Emanating from Johnny Mack Brown High School, these Saturday night dances were formerly held at the volunteer firehouse until it burned down.
The CD abounds with satiric Southern-fried local color. Listeners get the feeling they've tuned into a rural radio show with fully fleshed-out characters taking on a life of their own - if you call that living. Tunes are truncated when fights break out, song dedications are fumbled, live commercials go awry and general pandemonium reigns as Lester and the boys lurch forward into show business suicide.
A unique, devastatingly funny recording, one to play for unsuspecting friends - guaranteed to prompt the question: "Where on earth did you get THAT?""

Warning-You can't get this out of your head once you hear it

Larry Butts | CLAYTON, NC United States | 07/25/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard Lester and the boys about 25 years ago. Being one to impersonate anyone with an unusual way of speaking, I immediately fell in love with doing Roadhog. I have been introducing folks to Lester and the boys ever since. I love every bit of it but nothing beats talking about "the Joanie MACK Brown HI scooool" (sic). In the 70's, the Statler's were at the top of their game. They must have put in some long hours to play this bad. Buy it, kick back and enjoy. It is rare that something so bad can be so good."

It Don't Get No Better Than This

Larry Butts | 12/12/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Alright, mighty fine, and howdy, howdy. I guess I must confess to being especially partial to the Old Roadhog on account of the fact that my Daddy was the ass't. principal at Johnny Mack Brown High School back pert near thirty years back. Daddy hired me to clean up after most of the old Roadhog's appearances in the school gym down in Rainbow Valley. Oh lord, if only you could have been there. Let's just say that there was an awful lot of brown glass a-flying through the air, and yours truly had the privilege of sweeping it up (that and a few other items I won't get into describing right here, if you know what I'm saying.) Anyway, we all come to know the old Roadhog real good--never was a finer feller on the face of the earth if you ask me. Songs like "Fillipino Baby" and "Sixteen Tons" and seeing a couple of big uns--like Dolly and Porter--sure brings back some mighty fine memories. Well, if you couldn't actually have been there back then, your next best bet is to buy this here album. And if you do, you'll help the old Roadhog out in his retirement (he's still working in Rainbow Valley at Vern's Gas and Tires--mostly changing people's oil and filling tires with air. Stop by and look him up if you get down that way. Mighty fine."