The Best Of THE CARPETBAGGERS - Sin Now... Pray Later!

THE CARPETBAGGERS were a Twin Cities area three piece made up of two guitarists and a stand-up bassist--like their biggest influence JOHNNY CASH & THE TENNESEE TWO.  They’re an Appalachian echo of a time when drums weren’t allowed on The Grand Ole Opry, and their minimalist "classic country" approach would suit the single dashboard speaker of a late fifties roadster just fine.

They were prolific & prodigious songwriters.  On the first two albums, acoustic guitarist John Magnuson wrote the bulk of their material, with bassist Rich Copley also contributing.  By their third album Sin Now... Pray Later, electric guitarist Mike Crabtree stepped up.  (Of Mike, The Star-Tribune said: “Crabtree’s humble, single-note guitar playing creates warm country melodies with a subtle rockabilly feel”).  They all sang, & their voices blend together as if they were brothers.

Their songs range from downright depressing; Absent Without Leaving, to laugh-out-loud funny; My Jeannie’s In A Bottle, to surprisingly dark; Always A Pallbearer (Never A Corpse).  We're talking Leon Payne dark.  Songs by Roy Drusky, Bobby Lee Trammell, Marvin Rainwater, and Bill Anderson were scattered imperceptibly among the band’s own compositions.

Their first album was on Clean Records in 1992, their second was on Twin-Tone, and they went on to Hightone Records for their final album in 1996.  For a few years there, you were safe buying ANYTHING released on the Hightone label.  

The band did three tours with Son Volt and shared the stage with such notables as Los Lobos, Alison Krauss, The Jayhawks, and The Gear Daddies.

John Magnuson still records, and keeps a busy performing schedule.  Nowadays, there’s an Austin band called The Carpetbaggers—proof that you can’t keep a good name down.

I loved the band from day one, but my appreciation has only deepened.  I find it to be unparalleled driving music, so I go back to their catalogue regularly.  I’ve probably listened to this "best of" at least 60 times since I put it together twenty years ago—two or three times a year at least—which is why I decided to post it.