Ditch Diggin'

Album Review

Southern Culture on the Skids seemed to be reaching out to a larger audience ever so slightly on 1993's Ditch Diggin'; the songs are shorter and more concise than on For Lovers Only, the hooks are a shade more prominent, and the production is cleaner and tighter than on previous albums, making it a more user-friendly experience for beginners. But anyone who had liked SCOTS before would find lots to enjoy here and, if anything, the album broadens the group's already-varied musical palette, adding a strong (and less jokey) straight-ahead country accent to "My House Has Wheels" and "The Fly That Rose From Buffalo," and a cool R&B flavor to "Lordy Lordy" and "The Little Things." And if America had a better white trash party band in the 1990s than SCOTS, who were they? Rick Miller's guitar work just keeps getting hotter with the passage of time, and his wild rides on "Jack the Ripper" and "Rumors of Surf" are sheer trash rock heaven, while bassist Mary Huff and percussionist Dave Hartman give him all the firm support he needs. Ditch Diggin' is funny, it rocks, and you can even dance to it, and if that's not your idea of a great album, then maybe you shouldn't be bothering with this rock & roll stuff in the first place.