Folksinger Mike West lays down his mantra in the opening cut, "Dixie," on New South: "I don't suffer fools and I don't play Dixie." West mixes his left-of-center humor with fairly straightforward arrangements (if one doesn't count the tuba) for 18 original songs.
"Dogs and Ticks" includes a number of circular stories, each starting simply and building toward amusing catastrophe.
The dogs get ticks, which leads to lime disease; the narrator buys weed, which leads to getting busted.
However, all turns out well when the narrator finds Jesus, which gets him saved -- and "being saved got me praying/Now I got to behave." West paints a sardonic portrait of the New South on the album's title cut, a land occupied by "fraternity boys and sorority girls" along with lots of folks from up north.
Despite all the changes, everything seems pretty much the same: "In the New South like the Old South/Speak your mind but shut your mouth/When you're talking about the New South." West's skewed point of view works less well on pieces like "Clothes Dryer" and "Muleskinner," songs that go on too long and are a bit obvious.
Fans who have grown fond of West's oddball approach to folk will nonetheless joyfully add New South to their CD collections.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DixieMike West | Mike West | Play | 03:22 | 7 MB | 17 MB |
| 2 | MuleskinnerMike West | Mike West | Play | 03:31 | 8 MB | 18 MB |
| 3 | The Piano LessonMike West | Mike West | Play | 01:24 | 3 MB | 8 MB |
| 4 | Mrs. Ernst's PianoMike West | Mike West | Play | 04:13 | 9 MB | 22 MB |
| 5 | HogsMike West | Mike West | Play | 02:34 | 5 MB | 15 MB |
| 6 | New SouthMike West | Mike West | Play | 03:20 | 7 MB | 21 MB |
| 7 | Clothes DryerMike West | Mike West | Play | 03:49 | 8 MB | 20 MB |
| 8 | Loose EndsMike West | Mike West | Play | 04:30 | 10 MB | 25 MB |
| 9 | RefrigeratorMike West | Mike West | Play | 03:59 | 9 MB | 21 MB |
| 10 | BennyMike West | Mike West | Play | 02:45 | 6 MB | 16 MB |
| 11 | Whiskey on My BreathMike West | Mike West | Play | 02:22 | 5 MB | 14 MB |
| 12 | Disappearing ActMike West | Mike West | Play | 02:37 | 5 MB | 13 MB |
| 13 | Crown of ThornsMike West | Mike West | Play | 01:56 | 4 MB | 11 MB |
| 14 | Love's WakeMike West | Mike West | Play | 02:56 | 6 MB | 15 MB |
| 15 | Move AlongMike West | Mike West | Play | 03:28 | 7 MB | 19 MB |
| 16 | If Only You KnewMike West | Mike West | Play | 04:17 | 9 MB | 20 MB |
| 17 | Dogs And Ticks | Mike West | Play | 02:43 | 6 MB | 15 MB |
| 18 | The Blue And The Gray | Mike West | Play | 05:14 | 12 MB | 28 MB |
| 59 mins | 135 MB | |||||
| 59 mins | 326 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeff Burke | Banjo, Guitar (Acoustic), Mandolin |
| 2 | Debbie Davis | Vocal Harmony, Vocals |
| 3 | Gina Forsyth | Fiddle, Guest Artist |
| 4 | Andrea Garland | Artwork, Photography |
| 5 | John Lutz | Accordion, Bass |
| 6 | Myshkin | Engineer, Guest Artist, Photography, Spoons, Vocal Harmony, Wails, Washboard |
| 7 | Matt Perrine | Tuba |
| 8 | Marc Stone | National Steel Guitar |
| 9 | Matt Swiler | Drums, Washboard |
| 10 | Mike West | Arranger, Artwork, Banjo, Banjouki, Composer, Engineer, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Mandolin, Mixing, Percussion, Primary Artist, Slide Guitar |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |