Terry Allen

Blood Sucking Maniacs, the multigenerational family band led by Terry Allen and Jo Harvey Allen, have shared “Down to the River,” the second single from their self-titled debut, out April 24th via Paradise of Bachelors. A duet between Jo and Terry, the song is described as the album’s spiritual centrepiece — a moving paean to love and travel containing the album’s most breathtaking imagery.

Blood Sucking Maniacs, the multigenerational family band led by Terry Allen and Jo Harvey Allen, have announced their self-titled debut album, out April 24th via Paradise of Bachelors. Spanning five generations and 121 years — from Pauline Allen’s ghostly piano to a great-grandchild’s fetal heartbeat — the album is a wild, tender testament to family as creative force.

Next month sees the publication of Brendan Greaves’ Truckload of Art: The Life and Work of Terry Allen – the definitive, deep-dive, authorized, and first-ever biography of Terry Allen.

Bloodlines testifies, in tandem with the re-issue of ‘Smokin The Dummy,’ that having established himself as a maverick country outsider in the seventies, Terry Allen began the eighties on a creative roll. They deserve stronger appreciation among country fans and record collectors far and wide.

What is abundantly clear on this re-issue of ‘Smokin’ The Dummy’, is that Terry Allen wrote some great songs in those first two decades of his recording career, they have languished in the alt-country shadows for far too long.

Paradise of Bachelors are to reissue two of Terry Allen and the Panhandle Mystery Band’s long out-of-print albums from the early 1980s. Remastered from the original recordings and featuring expanded artwork, Smokin the Dummy (1980) and Bloodlines (1983) are both out May 6th, 2022.

A witty, insightful and musically infectious album with songs that more than stand comparison with his early greats, at 76 Allen proves you’re never too old to lead from the front.