Jack Habegger's Celebrity Telethon
The Knockout Game

cowpunk / american underground / alt-country / outlaw country

"They were obviously on the hard stuff when they made this record, but VLR is sure glad they did. It's weird, it's warped but we wanna see these guys live." - VIVE LE ROCK MAGAZINE

"COUNT ME IN! I'M A MAJOR FAN... THEY GET IT AND ARE POISED TO MOVE THE MUSICAL NEEDLE FORWARD. SOMEBODY HAS TO DO IT!" - Chip Kinman (The Dils, Rank and File, Cowboy Nation)

“It’s a dangerous line between earnestness and irony that Jack Habegger has walked on The Knockout Game with his band Celebrity Telethon, but we think he’s gotten away with it God bless him. On this anarchically but beautifully rendered, almost textbook example of cowpunk, Jack Habegger presents us a wonderfully flawed cast of characters whose foibles are a little too close to people we all know for comfort. It’s 2/4 beats, twangin’ teles and slinky steel all the way to the bitter end!”
- Kim Salmon (Scientists, Beasts of Bourbon)

"Vibrant lyrics mirror the music, portraying the heady blend of desolation and comic absurdity that defines our modern life- and probably pre-modern life, too, all the way back to the beginning of this thing, whatever it is." - John Vance, WRFL 88.1 FM Lexington

“You’re a good boy.”
- Billy Joe Shaver, when Jack was 9

“The Knockout Game” is my first album. Over its 27 minutes, you’ll hear a pretty accurate document of the band as it was in June of 2022. It’s almost a year later as I write this, and with that year comes a little perspective. This was not my first time in a studio, not even my first time in that particular studio, but it felt like a new experience for me. This would be the first time I was recording just my songs, with a band bearing my name. It didn’t feel like pressure or even a huge step really, but there was a sense of responsibility that was thrilling and a little daunting. We recorded the whole thing in 3 days under the patient guidance of our friend Raymond Richards, who also played a healthy amount of pedal steel for the album in one marathon sitting on day 3. The band, featuring Isaac Beach, Addison Clark, Skyler Pia, Emmet Martin and myself, was well rehearsed and raring to go. I think you can hear our excitement in the recordings. We made use of a lot of fun and novel stuff in the studio, from mellotron and tack piano to bongos and jaw harp. I think that we ended up with a solid record.
As far as influences go I was thinking a lot about The Band, Alex Chilton, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Townes Van Zandt, Lee Hazlewood, Jonathan Richman, Rank And File, and John Prine during both the writing and recording for the album. I could go on but I’m not sure if listing influences makes for good liner notes. Aw hell, here’s a few more: Silver Jews, NRBQ, Chris Spedding, Lou Reed, Doug Sahm, Link Wray, Jon Wayne, The Beat Farmers, and if you listen closely, you can hear me directly rip something from Bob Luman. I’m not sure how many of these influences can be squeezed into an 8 song record or if it’s even detectable, but I like to think that I shoved in plenty. Speaking of references to other artists, if the album cover looked familiar, go to the “S” section in your record collection and pull out “Freakin’ at The Freakers Ball” by Shel Silverstein. Maybe “The Knockout Game” could be the soundtrack to the drive home from the Freakers Ball, who knows?
There are plenty of people the Celebrities and I would like to thank. Be it inspiration, rides to practice, words of encouragement, or a combination of all three, these people made “The Knockout Game” possible. Thank you Patrick Haggerty, Jack Moriarity, Karl Blau, Hannah Ronningen, Lily McGarey, Bailey Bast, Grace Daenan, Isaac Langen, Jordan Krimston, James Maeda, Laith Scherer, Bob Ryan, Amber Claxton, Spencer Sult, Mary Fleener, Pat Moriarity, Mark and Stacie Habegger, David Beach, Markly Morrison, Austin Leonard Jones, Chip Kinman, Kim Salmon, Ed Habegger, Willy, and Pickles.
-JH

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