Aurelio Voltaire: Hate Lives in a Small Town CD

Voltaire, known for his tongue-in-cheek Gothic folk music, had spent his adult life saying he disliked Country music. That is, until one day when in a karaoke bar he was reacquainted with a Johnny Cash song called Folsom Prison Blues. “I LOVE that song,” exclaimed Voltaire. It was followed by a Hank Williams song, a Merle Haggard song, songs by Kenny Rogers, Willie Neslon, Buck Owens and more. “It was then,” says Voltaire, “that I realized that I didn’t hate Country music after all. I hated what it had become. In my somewhat drunken state, I thought, wouldn’t it be interesting to make a record of old-school country music, the kind of record that could have been released 40 years ago?”

The next day, when the rum wore off, he still thought it was a good idea and he got to work. The result is a collection of original Country songs by Voltaire that pay tribute to the the original spirit of country. Humorous, occasionally dark and always truthful, these songs hail back to a time when country was about storytelling and getting to the truth of things. In that light, Voltaire fans will realize that this CD isn’t such a departure for him after all.