Michael Hall and the Woodpeckers: Dead by Dinner

(Aznut Music 2000)

More songs about driving, longing, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Dead by Dinner begins with three minutes of sensual bewilderment ("I Can'tBelieve You Touched Him") and ends with ten minutes of mind-blowing trad-music deconstruction ("I Wish I Was A Mole in the Ground"). Along the way the Woodpeckers take you on a journey through American pop music, 'Pecker style--rootsy, riffy sadness you can hum to, hope you can hit with a truck. In the Woodpeckers' world, you swim in the river and dream at the stoplight. And you never ever dance with someone named Angel.

... great album full of morbid humor…traumatic uproar…unusually touching stories…a spunky guitar…
-- Rolling Stone--Germany

Top 10 album of 2000
-- Pulse

Personnel

Randy Franklin: guitar, vocals
Michael Hall: guitar, vocals
Steve McCarthy: drums, percussion, vocals
John Ratliff: piano, organ
Brian Zoric: bass
John Hagen: cello
Champ Hood: violin
Julie Lowry: vocals
Jud Newcomb: acoustic guitar, lap steel, slide guitar, percussion
Toni Price: vocals

Songs

1. I Can’t Believe You Touched Him
2. In the Crypt with Eleanora
3. If You Were Gonna Find Her, You Would've Found Her by Now
4. Worthless
5. Angel
6. Truly
7. If You Knew How Much I Wanted You
8. How to Be Strong
9. No One Can Tell You When It’s Time to Leave
10. Heaven, Too Far Away
11. The Train Will Surely Come
12. River Road
13. I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground