LIQUORED UP AND LACQUERED DOWN shows that SCOTS is still capable of surprise without compromising their musicianship. The title track starts things off in fine fashion, combing Mexicali horns and cheesy organ riffs to meld south of the border sensibilities with south of the Mason-Dixon concerns. "Pass the Hatchet" is a fine instrumental that sounds as if it could have been based on an Excello rhythm track or a lost Danny James session. While the band rarely takes themselves too seriously ("Corn Liquor," "Drunk and Lonesome Again") they nonetheless unerringly and repeatedly hit their targets. "Cheap Motels" is a lyrical and musical classic, three and one-half minutes of classic Americana that gives you a lyrical tour of a hot pillow joint: "There's cigarette burns on the table by the bed/and a King James Bible that never been read/If walls could talk the stories they'd tell/holdin' up the roof on a cheap motel." This is not to say, however, that SCOTS can't get serious. Interestingly enough, bass player Mary Huff has quite an emotional range, vocally, able to be defiant on one tune ("Hittin' On Nothing") and wistful on another ("Just How Lonely"). The latter tune, by the way, is as good as anything you'll hear on what passes these days for country radio.

LIQUORED UP AND LACQUERED DOWN, if these is any justice, will raise Southern Culture on the Skids above the level of a curiosity or novelty and broaden and extend their audience. I have the feeling, however, that they don't care whether they're playing to an audience of 20 in a broken-down dive or to a stadium of 60,000, as long as they can continue to do what they do so well.