Primus’ Les Claypool has teamed up with longtime friend Bryan Kehoe to form a rootsy Americana band called Duo de Twang. The duo is set to release their first album, Four Foot Shack, on February 4th.

Claypool is still on board with Primus, but has started up a new project alongside Kehoe, who has been part of past Claypool projects, and was one of the main actors from Les’ jam band mockumentary, ‘Electric Apricot: Quest for Festeroo.’ Dup de Twang is an unexpected turn into extremely rootsy music, as showcased by the first song released, “Jerry Was A Race Car Driver.” Apparently, the sound is derived from “one vocal, one bass, one guitar, and a basic beat supplied by stomping on a mini-tambourine-doohickey.” I can’t say I’m surprised. According to Claypool:

“The Twang project is me exploring a lot of stuff that I personally listen to; Johnny Horton, Vernon Dalhart, Jerry Reed, Bob Wills, Eddy Cochran stuff like that – it’s another door for me to open. I’m doing this sort of Luther Perkins, Johnny Cash guitar-ish type part on my bass, by doing the old ding-dinka-ding, dinka-ding-dinka-ding on a lot of the stuff. It took me a little bit to get that. Now that I’ve gotten it, I can pull songs out of the air and it’s surprising how many songs easily succumb to the twang, and can be complimented by the twang. When all is said and done, it’s just a hell of a fun project for me right now. I’ll do it ’til it’s not fun anymore.”

The first album, Four Foot Shack, will be released in February, but for now, listen to “Jerry Was A Race Car Drive” below.

Four Foot Shack Track List

01. Four Foot Shack (Les Claypool)
02. Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver (Primus)
03. Amos Moses (Jerry Reed)
04. Red State Girl (Les Claypool)
05. The Bridge Came Tumblin’ Down (Stompin’ Tom Connors)
06. Boonville Stomp (Les Claypool)
07. Stayin’ Alive (Bee Gees)
08. Rumble of the Diesel (Les Claypool)
09. Pipe Line (The Chantays)
10. Buzzards of Greenhill (Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade)
11. Hendershot (Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade)
12. Man in the Box (Alice in Chains)
13. D’s Diner (Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade)
14. Battle of New Orleans (Johnny Horton)
15. Jerry Was a Race Car Driver (Primus)