Blood Sucking Maniacs, the Allen family band, helmed by patriarch and matriarch Terry Allen and Jo Harvey Allen, spans five generations and 121 years, including (among others) their sons Bukka and Bale Allen; grandsons Kru, Sled, and Calder Allen; Panhandle Mystery Band mainstays Charlie Sexton, Lloyd Maines, and Richard Bowden, and frequent collaborator Will Sexton. The wild and wide-ranging songs collected on their eponymous album are miscellaneous and multiplex, comprising heartrending ballads and arch in-jokes on a spectrum from sublime to unabashedly sentimental. The unifying principle here is not so much blood harmony as blood entropy. Get sucked.(Deluxe gatefold double-LP edition includes insert booklet with lyrics and an essay by Terry's biographer Brendan Greaves. Deluxe gatefold single-CD edition features replica LP artwork and insert.)The Allen family's life has been as much an inspiration for me as Terry's wonderful art and music. - David ByrneTerry Allen is my hero. - Kurt Vile