I know the AC/DC show was nearly three weeks ago. But it's still on my mind. And I can bet it's still on the minds of half the people who attended the sold-out show at the E Center.
To tell you the truth, I can't get enough of the band. I took out all my CDs and cassettes and listened to them at work and when I worked out. I even took out my "Remixed to Hell" album — the AC/DC electronic music tribute — which features Sister Machine Gun and Godflesh doing "T.N.T." and "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)," respectively — and put it on.
Then, a couple of days ago, I got something in the mail that really made my mind reel. Make that the "Virginia Reel."
There's an AC/DC hillbilly tribute band that hails from Deer Lick Holler, Tenn., "deep in the heart of Appalachia," called Hayseed Dixie.
Although not a lot is known of this four-man, acoustical band, it's the music that speaks for itself. The album, "A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC," was released last week. And the timing couldn't have been better.
First off, AC/DC ended its 10-year sabbatical in playing Salt Lake City earlier this month. And second, there's a huge buzz about the soundtrack to "O Brother Where Art Thou," which garnered the No. 13 slot on Billboard's Top 200 charts a couple of weeks back.
Still, Hayseed Dixie is a mystery. There are no full-fledged biographies available, except the ones found on the band's label sites www.dualtone.com and www.westernbeat.com. Even then, no one is identified, except in name — "band member Barley Scotch . . ."
However, the bluegrass versions stay true to roots music form. Fiddles, mandolins, acoustic guitars and Dobros are the meat of the tunes, which include "Highway to Hell," "You Shook Me All Night Long," "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap," "T.N.T.," "Back in Black," "Money Talks," "Let's Get It Up" and "Big Balls."
What's really funny is the fact that those songs are pretty close in arrangements to the originals, too, except for the fact that the fiddle and mandolin take on most of Angus Young's guitar solos.
And that hotel-clerk bell that rings in Hayseed Dixie's steel slide intro to "Hells Bells" is a nice touch.
Rumor has it AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson thinks the tribute CD is outrageous. I think it rules. It would have been fun, though, to hear a bluegrass version of "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)."
I wonder what they would have used for the cannon blasts. Shotguns? Pop guns?
No, wait. I know. How 'bout moonshine-jug corks?
E-mail: scott@desnews.com