On Wirewalkers and Assassins, Curtis Eller’s American Circuspresents an aural psychotronic vision of Olde Timey Americana.  The overall sound of the album is vaudevillian country and folk: Eller’s banjo tunefully mingles accordion, lap steel, violin, and else, but the lyrics are just off-kilter enough that you’ll never mistake this for mere historical recreation.  Oddly, references to personages both modern and anarchonistic abound: John Wilkes Booth and the Civil War seem to co-exist with Richard Nixon and Fidel Castro.  The effect is something like finding a tube radio from some alternate reality that only plays songs about dusty roads, boxing, and circus catastrophes.  And what a brilliant tune it is!

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