Trying very hard not to think about how this is 33 years old.

So as some of you who made the mistake of following me on social media may know, I’ve become something of a record…well, “collector” isn’t the right word, perhaps “obtainer” may be better. But I’m trying to keep them organized in boxes and I certainly give each of them a listen.

This was mostly kicked off by inheriting a boatload of vinyl from my grandparents a few years back, which inspired me to dig out my own records from storage, which brought me to haunting the local thrift store to find the occasional 99-cent gem. Once in a while I check out Discogs.com (in particular, my old pal Sean’s shop from whom I got the Tank Girl soundtrack on beautiful blue translucent vinyl).

And once in a while, I hit up eBay, like I did for this record:

The “Timothy Truman” in “Timothy Truman and the Dixie Pistols” is, of course, comics artist Tim Truman, creator of Scout and cocreator of Grimjack.

I remember seeing this thoroughly advertised in Eclipse Comics of the time…it was released in 1987, the year before I started my first job in comics retail. Pretty sure there was at least one copy of this record floating around the shop when I started working there, but I don’t recall when or to whom it sold.

But I would occasionally think about this record, lost to the mists of time as the years, and decades, wore on. But then I realized “hey, I’ve got a record playing, I’m actively looking for records, and I’ve got an eBay…let’s give it a shot!” And a PayPal payment and a remarkably short transit time in the mails (you know, all things considered) I now have it in my hands!

Announced its arrival on the Twitters first, and a pal there noted “U mean the D. Pistols” and I was all “oh, yeah, right,” didn’t even think about that bit of business. And another Twitter pal asked for a review, and, well, look, I can barely review comics, reviewing music is a little out of my wheelhouse. But it’s good ‘n’ loud bluegrass, fast paced and a bit rough-n-tumble, with some robust vocals my Mr. Truman his own self.

But because I’m a comical-book type website that occasionally focuses on visuals, let’s give you a few pics of the item in question (along with guest appearances by my left hand):

The sleeve itself is quite attractive, with a different design on each side:

The center label on the LP itself is very pretty as well:

The album, despite being a used (but nice!) copy, still had the included Scout mini-comic, which was in slightly more worn condition than the record and cover around it. It’s just an 8-page thing, with 6 pages of actual “story” illustrations and a cover and a back cover with creirs

Anyway, that’s one more weird comics item I remember from my past now in my hot little hands. And let me tell you…that Truman kid’s got some pipes on him.