Righteous Babe
2006
Songs For Parents Who Enjoy Drugs
About This Album
If there's anything to say about Ed Hamell (aka Hamell on Trial), it's that he's certainly not shy about voicing his opinion. On his fifth solo record, Songs for Parents Who Enjoy Drugs, the anti-folk acoustic punk singer presents his most politically charged album to date. Inspired by the birth of his son, Detroit, Hamell searches to answer some of the questions that plague all parents in the 21st century (what to do when he asks if you've ever done "anything bad" -- the response: "lie" -- in "Inquiring Minds" or how to justify picking up toys when "We're over in Iraq/And there's no sign of turning back" in "Values") while keeping everything very tongue-in-cheek. Hamell's not concerned about dispelling stereotypes or about showing "compassion" ("That would take a bigger person than me," he admits in "Coulter's Snatch," which is everything you'd think it would be, only probably more graphic); in fact, he doesn't even seem to mind perpetuating them (the Southern-accented voice in "Maddy's Pt. 1" and "Pt. 2"). He's just angry and wants to say what he feels, and doesn't care who he offends in the meantime.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,5,7,10 and 12)

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