A Tasty Slice of Government Cheese

Welcome back from the long weekend. I hope everyone had a good time. Not to make you feel bad or anything, but while most of you were enjoying time with friends and family, I was working. I did get time-and-a-half, though, so at the end of the day it’ll be an extra $20 or so in my pocket. Seems like a fair trade off.

I found today’s music while searching Google Images for something. One of the hits I got was a picture of It’s a Rock ‘n’ Roll Party with Government Cheese (and, no, you don’t want to know what I was searching for). The album cover is classic.

The name Government Cheese kind of struck a memory chord with me, but I couldn’t recall anything about the band, so maybe, I decided, the name just reminded me of meals past.

Government Cheese was actually a “post-punk” band led by Tommy Womack. Womack, a self-described “songwriter, author, [and] creator of taut sensual tension,” formed Government Cheese in Kentucky, in 1985. “It is/was beautiful,” said guitarist Skot Willis. “We all had a blast touring the country in our yellow Cheese Ford Econoline. ‘You going to see the Cheese tonight?’ was a great thing.”

Although Government Cheese officially split in 1992, the band members remain friends and still play together once in awhile, most recently – I think – at a benefit show last September. Womack has written about his years as front man in a book called “Cheese Chronicles - The true story of a rock & roll band you've never heard of.” The book is available through his Website.

Tonight’s first track is from a compilation album called Return to Elliston Square, 1979-1989. Elliston Square was a nightclub in Nashville, Tenn., which was second home to the Cheese. The disk celebrated late 70’s to late 80’s rock bands from the Nashville area. The other songs are live Government Cheese tracks from Tommy Womack’s site. Along with these, he’s got several others posted, both solo and with the Cheese.

The Shrubbery’s Dead.mp3
Kentucky Home (live).mp3
People Who Died (live-Jim Carroll cover).mp3