12 Golden Country Greats
| 12 Golden Country Greats | ||||
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| Studio album by Ween | ||||
| Released | July 16, 1996 | |||
| Recorded | November 2-November 8, 1995 | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 33:40 | |||
| Label | Elektra | |||
| Producer | Ben Vaughn | |||
| Ween chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Sputnikmusic |  |
| Pitchfork Media | 8.5/10 |
| Entertainment Weekly | C- |
12 Golden Country Greats is Ween's fifth album, and third on Elektra Records.
This album marked the first time Ween limited themselves to a specific genre of music. Bringing in a wide variety of seasoned (and sometimes legendary) Nashville musicians (including Charlie McCoy, Buddy Spicher, Bobby Ogdin and The Jordanaires), the album sought to recreate the sound of golden-age country music with a great amount of success, while also combining this sound with classic Ween on such tracks as "Piss Up a Rope." According to producer and friend of the band Ben Vaughn, Ween asked him to produce the album as he had already been working with musicians on the Nashville country scene, having produced Arthur Alexander's Lonely Just Like Me album and co-written songs with Rodney Crowell and Gary Nicholson. Although they managed to get many highly-regarded country musicians to play on the album, some such as keyboardist Bobby Emmons (who also served as a church deacon) and Danny Davis turned them down due to the "blue" nature of much of their material. The session musicians were responsible for almost all instrumentation on the album: the only instrumental parts recorded by the core members of the band were guitar solos by Dean and Gene on "I Don't Wanna Leave You on the Farm" and "Fluffy" respectively. The legendary Bradley's Barn was chosen for recording the album. Later, Ween would assemble some of the session musicians again into a touring band dubbed The Shit Creek Boys.
The original version of "Powder Blue" runs for 4:16 and ends with a sample from Muhammad Ali. Ween were denied permission to use the sample by Ali's lawyers, but Elektra pressed the album accidentally. Repressings of the album contain a cut version, causing the song to abruptly end after the introduction "Ladies & Gentlemen, I'd like to present Muhammad Ali".
Gene sings every song except "Piss up a Rope" and "Help me Scrape the Mucus off my Brain," which feature Dean on vocals.
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