Runaway Freight, from College Grove, TN, are set to release their new CD on March 6. Hillbilly Bailout – The Recession Tapes, uses the theme of hard times for the art and liners, the song choices, and the production/marketing approach.

To keep costs down, the 15 tracks were cut live in the studio. They all tracked in one large room and completed the project in just over one day, capturing the first take on most of the songs.

The bulk of the songs are in the public domain, save two compositions from Freight guitarist Matt Ford. Their approach is straightahead, and audio samples can be found on the band web site or MySpace page.

In keeping with the theme of economic distress, they will offer the CD for only $10 at live shows, and have an $8 pre-release offer online (plus shipping).

We will be honest with you folks, we don’t know for sure if this bailout will benefit all Hillbillies. We hope that it will at least put you in a lighthearted mood when you listen and read the album credits.

Ford has also produced a clever children’s book, designed to teach young readers about the instruments in the bluegrass band. The Awesome Possums features a family of pickin’ possums, each of whom takes a page to introduce themselves and the instrument they play.

The book includes an audio CD which narrates the text of the book, and a recording of The Ballad Of The Awesome Possums, which tells the tale of the family band.

The song is cute, and each page of the book is illustrated with a water color and ink representation of the many Awesome Possums. If your young reader lives in a part of the world populated with real possums, they will appreciate the many references to the family avoiding “being on the road.”

The Awesome Possums is available for $10 in the Runaway Frieght web store.