I first remember seeing Mother Hips at a house party in Chico, California in about 1991, and they weren’t very good at all. A few years later, they played at a bar in Santa Barbara, California, and boy, did they get good.
In the midst of grungemania, these guys were playing alt-country before it became a movement. Although they never got the popularity of a lot of the other bands like Uncle Tupelo or The Jayhawks, Mother Hips sounded more like the bands they all were emulating than any of them. Flying Burrito Brothers, Creedence, and yes, Grateful Dead.
Not much seems to have changed for the band in the last ten years, as they are still playing that particular brand of California country rock, and still doing it well. I just wish that their song writing had progressed a little along the way. I am not saying that the three songs on this EP aren’t good – they are – it’s just not much different than the songs they were writing in the early 90s.
Fans of Beachwood Sparks, H.O.R.D.E. Tour, and jam bands will be into this. It’s not really “jammy,” but I can see then jamming out live. I hope this EP is a prelude to a full length, as I would like to hear another whole album from them.
Bill Barry
Mother Hips (Camera Records)