Balls Deep in the Bible Belt — Vinyl (Pre-Order)

PREORDER — Releases Friday, August 28. Each vinyl is pressed to order in the UK. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for production and delivery. You'll get a shipping notification the moment yours is on its way. Order now to reserve your copy.

Ten tracks of traditional country delivered with a straight face and a whole lot of nerve. A Whole Different Breed takes the rugged grit of the genre (the 808s, the pedal steel, the banjo, the Sunday-morning gospel harmonies) and aims it straight at everything country music is supposed to stand for.

This is satire built on a contradiction: hyper-masculine country sound wrapped around lyrics about being gay in a place that doesn't have a word for it that isn't an insult. Randy Bottoms sings it all deadpan, so the comedy comes from the gap between how serious it sounds and what he's actually saying, from feed-store innuendo to trucker double-entendres to more creative excuses for "it ain't gay" than a man should be able to come up with.

But it's not all a punchline. The record kicks the doors open swinging. "I Breed Cowboys," "Save a Horse, Ride a Sissy," "Diesel Top," and "Farm Handy" are as filthy and fearless as country's ever been. Then, track by track, the bravado starts to crack. "Autocorrect" is a phone that keeps confessing what he won't. "Straight as a Cowboy" is a man who runs clean out of straight things to compare himself to. And it all lands on "Different Kind of Man," a genuine gut-punch about praying to be someone you're not, and finally deciding not to. By the end you've laughed the whole way through and heard something honest underneath it: you can be country all the way down to your boots and still be a whole different breed. Nobody has to choose.

It's sharp, it's filthy, and it's got heart it didn't ask for. Country music for everyone who loves the sound of the South but likes watching its rules get broken.

Tracklist:

1. I Breed Cowboys
2. Save a Horse, Ride a Sissy
3. Look But Don't Touch
4. Autocorrect
5. Diesel Top
6. Hunk of a Man
7. Straight as a Cowboy
8. All My Exes Live in Stetsons
9. Farm Handy
10. Different Kind of Man

What you get: A collectible vinyl pressing of A Whole Different Breed, made to order and shipped to your door. The full record on wax, with complete album artwork, for people who want the real thing spinning on the turntable.

• Vinyl LP with full album artwork
• All 10 tracks
• Pressed to order in the UK, shipped worldwide

Reserve your copy and get A Whole Different Breed on vinyl.