badpenny

All I ever wanted for Christmas was P.J. Harvey crooning cowboy tunes on a dusty road. Damn if Denver’s badpenny (one word, small b, small p) didn’t go and deliver the goods on Special Racer--11 songs that celebrate alt-country in a way that’s so deliciously fresh you’d think somebody ought to slap them. From the opening track “Half Way Gone” singer/bassist Sandeigh Barrett, guitarist Dave Womer and drummer Sean Bryant take us down a road that’s just gritty enough to texture Barrett’s “tom-girl next door” vocal style. She wails and cajoles, dares and threatens in “Butterflies and Fairies,” “...get out of my/car I’m gonna drive away/before I smash your face in....” a song that definitely reminds me of Polly Jean’s “Sheela-Na-Gig” with a Fugazi-like marching beat... and if that ain’t country you can kiss my ass. Which is to say, no matter where they take their influences from, you can’t take the Nashville out of this band. “Skeletons” is as much a sugar foot rag as a rock song. “Waste of Time” is an up-tempo number that’s as down home and honest as vintage Patsy Cline. While you won’t hear their cover of Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” on this recording, the brooding “Smokin’ Gun delivers his darker side of Americana. And no country record would be complete without at least one drinking song. “Underbelly” proves that even tough girls can have a tear in their beer... and this one just might be looking for revenge in “Atlantic City.” Since I picked it up, Special Racer has been in heavy rotation in my CD player along with The Swayback and Slim Cessna’s Auto Club--with company like that, you can’t go wrong.

Roland S. Howard
- The Buzz Magazine

This may be my favorite Denver band. Am I allowed to say that in a Denver-based music magazine? badpenny, for those who haven't had the pleasure, are Sean Bryant on drums, Dave Womer on guitar, and the fabulous Ms. Sandeigh Barrett on bass and vocals. And really, her Corin Tucker-meets-Patsy Cline vocals are what it's all about. Her voice heats you up like a hot toddy, with equal parts whiskey and honey and just a splash of lemon-acid. Sure, the gritty guitar has plenty of punk-rock fuzz or country twang depending on the mood of the song, and the laid-back drums help set the mood, but it's all about the girl up-front. She's sarcastic but sincere, country and rock all at once. The record's themes run heavily toward the breakup end of the relationship spectrum, but even when she's singing about her "throat getting tighter," her words make me think that she's never let him see her cry, just turned on her heel and slammed the car door in his face. I suppose I'd call them alt-country for lack of a better word, or maybe to paraphrase Lucero's Ben Nichols and say "western indie rock." It's cowboy-booted, beer-drinkin', jukebox rock'n'roll that you don't have to be heartbroken to enjoy, but it might give you a boost if you are. Lest I overhype the twangier side of things, I'll also note the echoes of Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane" in "Lazarus," and the sexy sleaze of "Underbelly," where Sandeigh hisses, "take it all, I want you to." Congratulations, badpenny. You've made me wish I still lived in Denver.

-Sarah Jaffe
- KaffeineBuzz.com

Judging by how few of them there are, good rock CDs must be damned hard to create. But Special Racer, whose arrival is being celebrated on Saturday, September 17, at Herman's Hideaway, makes the process -- or at least the results -- seem as easy as can be. The badpenny trio of Sandeigh Barrett, Dave Womer and Sean Bryant don't do anything especially complicated. Instead of tarting up their tunes with ornate arrangements and instrumental gewgaws, they focus upon four of popular music's most rudimentary tools: guitar, bass, drums and voice. Although lead singer Barrett often sounds as if she learned to croon at the intersection of Sleater and Kinney, her steady, confident tone enlivens tracks such as "Butterflies and Fairies," whose new-agey title is undercut by the saucy couplet "I'm goin' to drive away/Before I smash your face in."

-Michael Roberts - The Westword

Special Racer, the debut full length CD from Badpenny combines raw female rock vocals with spare instrumentation to come up with a catchy and cool CD. The songs have that raw, gritty, rebellious anger that has always powered rock and roll. The rhyming choruses stick in your head for days. The instrumentation consists of a three piece combo of guitar, bass, drums with Sandeigh Barrett's haunting vocals over the top.
The eleven tracks have evocative, yet disturbing lyrics. From the song "Butterflies and Fairies:" "So Please get outta my car. I'm goin' to drive away before I smash your face in." "Waste of Time" is about unrequited love and/or stalking. "Lazarus" has these lyrics: "I didn't know I could raise the dead." "Underbelly" asks: "Can I be your favorite Whore?" All of which is that much more interesting/disturbing when sung by a hot female vocalist. Nobody's going to accuse this CD of being over-produced, but the songs come through loud and clear. It's a cool trip down some of life's darker alleys with a roots rock-based soundtrack. Buy this CD and enjoy the ride.

-David Barber - RockonColorado.com