In Brief

The North Carolina trio stays true to its twisted roots with this new collection of hillbilly joke-rock, a trash-o-rama array of hard-driving twang, full-bore satire and slip-sliding instrumentals. Slicked up with organ, sitar and horns, the songs balance discord and tunefulness. A heap of studio polish never entirely subdues the strut and fret of Rick Miller’s guitar, which shimmies seductively throughout. The band plays the Palace on Oct. 23 and the Foothill on Oct. 25.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good), four stars (excellent).

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Hear the Music

* Excerpts from these albums and other recent releases are available on The Times’ World Wide Web site. Point your browser to: http://pixel.nohib.com./soundclips