The musical swamp known as the Dirtminers swirls unevenly around singer/guitarist Raph (pronounced "Rayf") Worrick. Raised on the Dark Continent, Worrick (never call him "Ralph") has been writing songs since he was a small child, so he really knows how to do it now.

Addicted to thoroughly beaten guitars and dimestore sorrow, the Dirtminers are fueled by high octane cynicism. Their shows run the gamut from minimalist to extreme -- from two lonely men with guitar and snare drum all the way up to a ten piece band in tuxes.

On Meat and Electricity, their new CDEP on Animalville Records, the band covers wide territory as well. It calls up raucous echos of the Faces, T. Rex and Graham Parker on some songs, while summoning the spare, dark intensity of Warren Zevon or Gillian Welch on others. The influences may be broad and obscure, but the music is as American as county fair carnys and rain-soaked hitchhikers.