This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
I can’t believe Mark Everett — better known to Eels fans simply as E — still has a record deal.
Not because he sucks or anything. Quite the opposite; this enigmatic singer-songwriter is far too talented and original not to have been unceremoniously dumped by his label by now. Maybe Shootenanny! will do the trick. Like his four other studio efforts, it’s chock full of superbly crafted, smartly written alt-pop, slacker-folk and electro-blues rockers with titles like Love Of The Loveless, Restraining Order Blues and Wrong About Bobby. Combining fuzzily freewheeling indie production with grounded, irony-free sentiments, these are tunes that make you listen, make you think and make you wonder why Cake, Beck and Weezer — a few of the artists to whom the enigmatic, raspy-throated E is often compared — haven’t make records this honest and compelling in a while. Then again, maybe we should be glad they don’t. After all, the longer E has the playing field to himself, the longer he may be able to hang on to that deal.
