Album Review – Rattlesnake Milk (Self-Titled)
Take yourself on a little trip to the dark side of country—the underground as it’s sometimes called—where the ambition is low, any plan completely absent, but the music is powerful and invigorating, uninhibited by style or scene or trend, true to itself, and tremendously potent. This is the world of Austin, TX’s Rattlesnake Milk.
Mashing together influences from traditional country, underground punk, and old-school garage surf, Rattlesnake Milk is unrefined, purposely unpolished, poorly-presented, completely unfit for primetime, and a powerful force of underground roots music perfect for getting lost in and cranking up loud. Rattlesnake Milk is the kind of dangerous and cool that all those rich kids in Americana love to fancy themselves as, but don’t have the courage to pull off in this raw, unbridled form. This is the music of the cotton rows and concrete bunkers, festering in the shadows, and forced into the alleys for the select few willing to dig a little deeper to eventually find and take ownership in as an unearthed gem.
What or who is Rattlesnake Milk? There’s no real definitive answers, aside from the joint appears to have formed in Lubbock, TX about 2012 around a singer named Lou Lewis who made some crude demo recordings while farming cotton, eventually forming a band with fellow Lubbock residents Zach Davis, Andrew Chavez and Brad Ivy, playing shows randomly, sometimes uninvited, and often unannounced, taking on a form more akin to an apparition than an actual band.
Soon Rattlesnake Milk were semi cult famous smack dab in the middle of nowhere, and to underscore their headlong commitment to remaining completely anonymous outside of seedy bars in dusty West Texas, they released their first record Snake, Rattle, and Roll solely on cassette tape. Yep, you had to run down a Walkman if you wanted to listen … though eventually the record did end up on Bandcamp, and slowly made its way to other corners of the internet as well.
At some point, maybe around 2015, parts and pieces of Rattlesnake Milk ended up in Austin, and the band went through some personnel changes, adding drummer Corey “Chencho” Alvarez and bassist Erik Pawlak, playing one-off shows here and there, often promoted with posters much more akin to the street art of the punk world. Eventually the band partnered with producer Danny Reisch, and recorded this self-titled record, initially released on the vinyl-only label Feels So Good Records.
Normally you would pan a project for sounding this poor. And make no mistake, that’s been the regular practice here at Saving Country Music. But this Rattlesnake Milk record is the exception, not the rule. Sounding like it’s oozing out of a first-generation AM transistor radio in an oil-lit shack, the songs are harrowing tales of travel, treachery, thievery, sorrow, all squeezed through a straightforward four-piece setup mixed in mono, punctuated by primal howls and ripping guitar solos, all written to fit the Dust Bowl period.
This record is like a time portal. It’s early pre-punk garage rock meets Hank Williams, and both George Jones fans and devotees of The Cramps will find something they can crave over. But despite the scratchiness of the recordings, the melodies and songs are all structurally tight, and the writing is of remarkable quality when you really listen.
Rambunctious as punk-inspired rockabilly, but with the soul of the sincerest country songwriting, Rattlesnake Milk fills a unique space in country music you never knew existed, but now you want much more of.
1 3/4 Guns Up (8/10)
dagenscountry
June 16, 2020 @ 11:36 am
So happy you reviewed this outstanding album! It’s been my most listened to album so far, this year! The feeling, storys and atmosphere is extraordinary in my system at least. And so happy the band is being recoqnized.
Blackh4t
June 16, 2020 @ 12:32 pm
Wow, yeah, this is good. Like it a lot.
Whon
June 16, 2020 @ 12:36 pm
This is the sound we found in Cow Punk when Rank and File, Jason and the Scorchers and early Dwight were breaking in the mid 80’s. Love it when punk and country combine. Same deal with Sarah Shook today and Uncle Tupelo turn of the century.
Uncle2Pillow
June 16, 2020 @ 12:42 pm
Good album. Indeed strong surf/indie garage rock meets country music.
Kevin Smith
June 16, 2020 @ 1:33 pm
Cow-punk, Trucker-billy, rockabilly, all the above. There were several Ohio bands in this vain. To name a few, The Cowslingers, Whiskey Daredevils, The Sovines and Lords of the Highway. This stuff takes me back. Love that echo, reverb, tremolo bar sound and put some minor chords in…musical bliss. I’m not crazy about the vocals here, though. That intentional lo fi mono recorded through a PA speaker sound is a bit flat for me. Reminds me of Col.JD Wilkes and The Legendary ShackShakers. A little gimmicky.
I do like the Dave Dudley song however.
Another band I recommend is Hot Rod Walt and The Psycho Devilles if you like this. They play a lot of hot rod rockabilly but also some trucker type country with pedal steel.
Montana
June 17, 2020 @ 7:48 am
Some cool bands, thanks for the recommendations!
Bill from Wisconsin
June 17, 2020 @ 3:31 pm
Dale Watson…
Mark Tatum
June 16, 2020 @ 2:01 pm
Yippee Ty Kiyay Muthafuckas!
Puncheon50
June 16, 2020 @ 6:05 pm
First one has an Angry Johnny and the Killbilies vibe to it. Love it!
albert
June 16, 2020 @ 10:11 pm
is that sturgill on lead vocals ? …
i can almost understand every other line ….
good review , trigger …..you’ve manged to define what to some may seem definable.
Montana
June 17, 2020 @ 4:25 am
Great record, one of the best this year… Thanks for the review Trigger!
Cameron
June 17, 2020 @ 4:38 am
Damn this is pretty dope. Thanks for reviewing it.
Timmy
June 17, 2020 @ 7:40 am
This is freaking great and never would have hit my radar if not for this site. Thanks so much for the review, Trigger.
Dawg Fan
June 17, 2020 @ 7:56 am
Never heard of ’em but glad you posted this. That first song sounds an awful lot like Ghosts Riders In The Sky by The Outlaws.
Jake Cutter
June 17, 2020 @ 8:40 am
You had me at “….unrefined, purposely unpolished, poorly-presented, completely unfit for primetime…” Seems like music made for the sake of making music – instead of marketing, to me.
Been listening since yesterday when I saw this, and I think it’s pretty badass. Thanks for reviewing.
Dee Manning
June 17, 2020 @ 1:41 pm
And this is why I keep coming back to this site despite people hating on pop country artists I love, and spouting unfortunate political opinions.
This is AWESOME! [Insert multiple heart emojis here]
SB77
June 17, 2020 @ 6:50 pm
Any band that names a song after Dave Dudley gets a thumbs-up from me.
Bill Goodman
June 17, 2020 @ 6:59 pm
Tickle me impressed.
NorCal Hellbilly
June 19, 2020 @ 8:45 pm
I really like this! Great review and thanks for another recommendation of an artist I would have never heard of if it wasn’t for this website
Jay
June 23, 2020 @ 11:17 am
Thanks again for another great album I never would have heard of. I think this is my favorite of the year so far actually
Big Blackie
June 23, 2020 @ 1:31 pm
I stumbled on this site a while back while searching on “Sturgill and lsbell” and it has become a daily stop on my internet browsing routine. The articles and Trigger’s reviews have become a great resource for finding the music I like, but didn’t know existed (if that makes sense), and Trig has turned me onto some excellent stuff. This one is a stand-out for me, I love the swampy, tremolo heavy vibe and I hear quite a bit of Southern Culture on the Skids in there. I am a 60 year old, life long music freak who was raised on CCR and lived through classic rock, “hard rock”, southern rock, and grunge and after getting tired of what “new” was coming out, opened up my aperture to some of the excellent song-writing and performers in the areas we refer to as “Americana” and what I consider “real” country music. Your site pushes almost all of my buttons and I’m pretty sure I speak for many when I thank you for beating the bush and doing the work to get this out in front of us. THANKS!
Trigger
June 23, 2020 @ 1:50 pm
Thanks for reading Big Blackie!
thegentile
June 24, 2020 @ 9:46 am
dig this one a lot. great sounds and influences.
Greg Shawinsky
May 4, 2022 @ 2:27 pm
This is one of my favorite writings you’ve done, Kyle.
This band already sounded so cool and you just painted them as the most intriguing group in Texas. Hell of a review.