Performer Notes

Lambchop: Kurt Wagner (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars); Jonathan Marx (vocals, clarinet, alto saxophone, cornet); Deanna Varagona (vocals, alto & baritone saxophones); Bill Killebrew (acoustic & electric guitars); Steve Goodhue (guitar); Paul Niehaus (double-neck lap steel guitar); Hank Tilbury (banjo); John Mock (tin whistle, recorder); John Delworth (Farfisa organ, Hammond M-3 organ); Mike Doster (acoustic bass); Marc Trovillion (electric bass); Allen Lowrey (drums); C. Scott Chase (percussion).
Additional personnel: David Davidson, Pamela Sixfin, Clara M. Olson (violin); Kristin Wilkinson (viola); John Catchings (cello).
Recorded at Sound Vortex, Nashville, Tennessee in 1995.
Personnel: Jonathan Marx (vocals, clarinet, alto saxophone, cornet); Deanna Varagona (vocals, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone); Kurt Wagner (guitar, electric guitar, classical guitar); Steve Goodhue (guitar); Hank Tilbury (banjo); Pamela Sixfin (violin); John Delworth (Farfisa); Allen Lowrey (drums).
Recording information: Sound Vortex, Nashville, TN (1995).
Unknown Contributor Role: John Catchings.
With the band's second album, they perfect the sound introduced on their impressive 1994 debut I HOPE YOU'RE SITTING DOWN. The Lambchop sound is at once self-mocking and quietly intense, achieving the sort of dichotomy usually reserved for Leonard Cohen records. Lambchop had yet to incorporate the funky R&B influences that would come to the fore on THRILLER and WHAT ANOTHER MAN SPILLS. HOW I QUIT SMOKING is a more sedate affair, filled with hushed vocals, shimmering, reverb-drenched guitar and elegant string and horn lines that support Kurt Wagner's wry, often dark, lyrical observations. However quirky Wagner's vision and delivery there's still undeniable warmth to the sound, making HOW I QUIT SMOKING as undeniably pretty as it is subtly subversive.

Professional Reviews

Q (9/00, p.134) - Included in Q's "Best Alt.Country Albums Of All Time" - "...Sounds like it was produced by David Lynch....taking the classic elements of country music and boiling them down into something light years away fromt he Nashville mainstream..."

Uncut (p.114) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he addition of a wistful Uillean pipe sound lent a pastoral Anglo/Celtic tone to a few songs, while John Mock's sleek string arrangements gave a deceptively sentimental sheen to much of the album."

Alternative Press (5/96, p.67) - 5 - Supreme - "...a work of timeless grace and stately beauty. A remarkable achievement which could have been just as easily recorded in the 1950s or '60s as the '90s."

Melody Maker (12/21-28/96, pp.66-67) - Ranked #27 on Melody Maker's list of 1996's `Albums Of The Year.'

Melody Maker (1/20/96, p.33) - Recommended - "...a real curio, unearthly little gem....very much rooted in the paranormal landscape of USA today. Their songs are awkward, strangely disturbing filmic situations which take heed of certain country traditions...but refuse their conservatism and update their logic..."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.121) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[S]uperb....'The Militant' is a masterpiece of menace..."

NME (Magazine) (1/20/96, p.44) - 8 (out of 10) - "...This is...ambient country--a mellow twang, a soft brush shuffle and a mumbled vocal that makes Tindersticks sound like Whigfield....Kurt Wagner's warm, mumbled vocals act as a blanket....it's all very Raymond Carver..."

Album: How I Quit Smoking
#	Song Title	Time
1)	For Which We Are Truly Thankful
2)	Man Who Loved Beer, The
3)	Militant, The
4)	We Never Argue
5)	Life's Little Tragedy
6)	Suzieju
7)	All Smiles and Mariachi
8)	Scary Caroler, The
9)	Smuckers
10)	Militant, The
11)	Garf
12)	Your Life as a Sequel
13)	The”ne
14)	Again

Album: How I Quit Smoking
#	Song Title	Time
1)	For Which We Are Truly Thankful
2)	Man Who Loved Beer, The
3)	Militant, The
4)	We Never Argue
5)	Life's Little Tragedy
6)	Suzieju
7)	All Smiles and Mariachi
8)	Scary Caroler, The
9)	Smuckers
10)	Militant, The
11)	Garf
12)	Your Life as a Sequel
13)	The”ne
14)	Again