Ween’s strangest, straightest record is turning 30, and it’s coming back loaded. The cult duo’s beloved country detour ’12 Golden Country Greats’ gets a 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition on July 31 via Rhino, remastered and expanded with more than 20 unreleased demos and outtakes from the original Nashville sessions.
The package is a deep dive. The Deluxe Edition arrives on 3CDs and 3LPs, with a color-vinyl version available exclusively from Rhino.com and Ween.com, plus streaming and download options. To kick things off, the previously unreleased outtake “Bad Day In Brownsville” is available digitally today here.
The album’s backstory is half the fun. To make it, Dean Ween (Mickey Melchiondo) and Gene Ween (Aaron Freeman) swapped the Tascam four-track cassette recorders of their early years for the professional polish of Bradley’s Barn near Nashville. Produced by Ben Vaughn, they recruited The Shit Creek Boys, a crew of elite session players including The Jordanaires, who had backed Elvis Presley. In true Nashville fashion, the duo handled only vocals, letting veterans like pianist Hargus “Pig” Robbins and fiddler Buddy Spicher carry the instrumentation across songs like “Piss Up A Rope,” “I’m Holding You,” and “Pretty Girl.”
The bonus material is where collectors will linger. It includes two tracks cut from the original album, “I’ve Got No Darkside” and the Jerry Garcia tribute “So Long, Jerry,” which finally complete the “12” the title always promised, appearing as both four-track demos and fully produced Nashville outtakes. The set widens further with rarities like the first official release of “Boston Chicken,” a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Fool to Cry,” and “Good Timing Rhyming Song,” across a 36-song collection that captures the band at their most gleefully committed to the bit.
12 Golden Country Greats (Deluxe Edition) 3CD Tracklist:
Disc One: Original Album Remastered
- “I’m Holding You”
- “Japanese Cowboy”
- “Piss Up A Rope”
- “I Don’t Wanna Leave You On The Farm”
- “Pretty Girl”
- “Powder Blue”
- “Mister Richard Smoker”
- “Help Me Scrape The Mucus Off My Brain”
- “You Were The Fool”
- “Fluffy”
Disc Two: 12 Golden Demos
- “I Don’t Wanna Leave You On The Farm” – Demo
- “Piss Up A Rope” – Demo
- “Mister Richard Smoker” – Demo
- “Help Me Scrape The Mucus Off My Brain” – Demo
- “Pretty Girl” – Demo
- “Fluffy” – Demo
- “You Were The Fool” – Demo
- “Powder Blue” – Demo
- “I’ve Got No Darkside” – Demo
- “Maybelle” – Demo
- “I’m Holding You” – Demo
- “So Long Jerry” – Demo
Disc Three: 14 Golden Outtakes and Demos
- “I’ve Got No Darkside”
- “Boston Chicken”
- “Bad Day In Brownsville”
- “Good Timing Rhyming Song”
- “Sweet Texas Fire”
- “Twinkle”
- “If You Can’t Look Me In The Eye”
- “I’m Gonna Fix Your Ass”
- “Fool To Cry”
- “Spaghetti”
- “I’ll Miss You”
- “Maybelle” – Waste Version
- “Scum Of This Town”
- “So Long Jerry”