Pop Music Review : Southern Culture a Mix of Country, Surf, Rock Kitsch

Southern Culture on the Skids is a trio from North Carolina that’s been basking proudly in its white-trash roots for 10 years, banging out countrified surf music with a kitschy rock edge. The group’s approach was a perfect fit Wednesday with the cheesy tiki decor of Jacks Sugar Shack, where its tongue-in-cheek blend of backwoods flavor, ironic stance and driving, tight delivery won over the small audience.

Singer-guitarist Rick Miller, in overalls, straw hat and no shirt, craned his neck and flapped his arms to the song “Ain’t Nobody Here but Us Chickens,” and yee-hawed sporadically throughout the set. Singer-bassist Mary Huff, in a polka-dot dress and bouffant hairdo, sang such songs as “Daddy Was a Preacher and Mama Was a Go-Go Dancer” in nasal, Appalachian tones.

A version of the Louvin Brothers’ “Great Atomic Power,” a ‘50s tune that casts a warily religious eye at the new energy source, highlighted the set, which shimmied with surf guitar and pounded with the energy of charged rockabilly. Southern Culture is strictly for kicks--a musical equivalent of Saturday night mailbox bashing.

* Southern Culture on the Skids plays tonight at Fuzzyland, Mr. T’s Bowl, 5621 N. Figueroa St., Highland Park, 9 p.m. $6. (213) 969-1433.