Album Notes

Top 10 albums of 2002
Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs, "Half Cocked and Fully Loaded" -- The twangy and rootsy barroom favorites keep things loose and boozy for their second CD, but they also show off the six members' fine, Southern-inspired musicianship.

Best Live Acts
Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs -- With their regular gigs at the Viking Bar and other places where the beer pours easily, the ramshackle acoustic pickers know enough old blues and country tunes and inside jokes to entertain consistently.

Chris Riemenschneider
Star Tribune, Jan. 3, 2003



Their live shows are too fun for purists and too honest for posers. A perfect vibe for tossing a few back.

Mike Elias
Mike's Big 10 for '02
The Chord



What you see is what you get: front porch swingin' liquor pigs. Don't get me wrong, these guys are all accomplished musicians. But, any one of them could be your crazy old uncle who's been playing in a band since he was 18. "Half Cocked and Fully Loaded" is full of the kind of good time rootsy bluesy stuff you want to listen to while swingin' on the front porch...with liquor...and a pig. Umm, I guess what I'm trying to say is, this is music that should be listened to and not described; crack a Summit, shut your goddamned mouth and dance.

Jack Sparks
The Other Side of Country



Half Cocked and Fully Loaded
Though they're as much a live band as buffalo wings are an appetizer, the Liquor Pigs do a respectable job recreating their onstage mayhem on their second CD. But "Half Cocked" also shows off the serious musicianship of the six players, whose long and varied backgrounds include country, blues, folk and bluegrass. The slow, acoustic blues stomp "Black Cat Bone" is as convincing as a yee-haw Western swing cover of "Somebody's Been Using That Thing". The vibe is well summed up in Feelin' Boozy," one of three strong originals by co-leader Dave Babb, who proudly confesses to a series of im proprieties. Improper or not, the band can be proud of this one.

Chris Riemenschneider
Star Tribune Review



Pigs & Koerner



Liquor Pigs swing into Rock Bend
ST. PETER - Besides having the coolest name yet of any band to perform at the Rock Bend Folk Festival, the Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs also might have the coolest stage demeanor. After all, it takes some cool - not to mention confidence - to combine rehearsals with performances, which is what the Liquor Pigs do every Friday at the Viking Bar in Minneapolis. "Everyone gets involved in the ugliness of how a song takes shape"...

Joe Tougas
Read the Mankato Free Press review





The story of The Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs goes back quite a way. It goes back to when the Carter Family first came out of the hills outside Maces Springs, Va...

Read the Ripsaw review




Best Americana group:
Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs.

Best Americana recording:
Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs, "Forget Your Truffles & Dance."

Minnesota Music Awards 2001





"With fans like the Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs has, who needs enemies?"

Henry Hormann


City Pages Article







Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs, Half Cocked and Fully Loaded (Neckless)
When you stumble into the murk of the taverns where these guys play, your hope isn't just to find warmth or sweet liquid oblivion. You want transcendence, something so rare in local CDs that you almost forget what it feels like. But this second helping from the West Bank Pogues of jug rock is no imitation of life. Tulip Sweet's Tom Siler and studio veteran Tom Herbers perfectly distill the band's live rollick, welcoming guests such as Dave Ray (who reminds us why he's missed) to an old-time, multigenerational picking party that any punk would love. Sounds like the hootenanny of their lives.

Peter S. Scholtes, City Pages
Personal Bests, Local Favorites of 2002