New Wave meets Bluegrass, 1980

Back in 1980, Cleveland was a proving ground for all kinds of New Wave and experimental music. And one of the more unusual experiments was this bluegrass version of DEVO's "Mongoloid" which I produced on my own Black Snake label. Bob Frank of the Hotfoot, a musical omnivore, was a fan of DEVO's music and eager to to give it a try, so I booked him and his band into the legendary Boddie Records studio for the recording, with guest mandolinist "Bobbie Smack" (Bob Smakula). The recording session was a hoot, and for good effect Bob rented fake radiation suits and hired John Thompson of "The Drome" record store, who'd done a lot of the early cover work for DEVO, to design the cover. You could spend years searching for this rare '45 -- or you could just listen to it here.