Song of the Day: “Sugarking” by Bob Schneider

Austin, TX troubadour has finally released a long-lost orphan project.

Dec 18, 2025

The album The Texas Bluegrass Massacre, is peak Bob Schneider: darkly funny and slightly misleading. Is it a massacre? Only of your expectations for a traditional rock album. In reality, it’s less a bloodbath and more a lively, fiddle-driven barn party. The band, featuring some truly furious finger-picking, takes his repertoire—including a few classics and some lesser-known gems—and slaps banjo right up in the middle of them.

The great gag of this record is hearing Schneider’s often-swave, always-cerebral lyrics delivered over a soundscape that screams small-town church picnic. It’s musical cognitive dissonance at its finest. You get the sense that Bob dared the band to play as fast as they could, then chuckled as he tried to keep his cool-guy delivery over the frantic breakdowns.

If you’re a longtime fan (like I am), you are aware that Bob has gone nearly 100% indie on Patreon for new music and have probably already heard these tracks under the heading of “Patreon Exclusive” or “That one live Frunk recording” But now, for the first time, this glorious collision of Schneider’s signature sardonic wit and the breakneck pace of a proper bluegrass band has been formally released, a full 15 years later.

While some might choose to feature the novelty cover (AC/DC’s “Highway To Hell”), the true heart and soul of this album, where genres not only meet but truly marry, is “Sugarking.” In an album full of enjoyable reinterpretations, “Sugarking” stands out because it takes one of Schneider’s signature songs and doesn’t just re-dress it—it redefines its entire emotional landscape. Hearing him tell the story of a Barbadian sugar farmer turned rum runner over a soaring, traditional Appalachian fiddle break is frantic, funny, expertly played, and ultimately, the strongest argument for why we need to support independent artists like Bob Schneider.