Here Come the Choppers is a 2005 album by Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Snowden Wainwright III is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, brother of Sloan Wainwright, and the former husband of the late folk singer Kate McGarrigle.To...

. The title track is an acerbic and blackly humorous reference to the Iraq War, reset in southern California's Miracle Mile

Miracle Mile

-Places in the United States:*Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, a district of Los Angeles*Miracle Mile , New York, a premium shopping district on the North Shore of Long Island*Miracle Mile , a shopping area in Coral Gables, Florida...

"The inspectors found nothing

That’s just not right

Whole Foods and Kmart

Are targets tonight"

Perhaps the most remarkable track though, is Hank and Fred, a real life account of Wainwright driving to the grave of Hank Williams when he heard the news, on the car radio, of the death of children's TV host Fred Rogers.

"One New Years' Day Hank slipped away

Slumped over in the back

Oh, I hope he had his cardigan on

In that Cadillac"

The album is also notable for the seemingly unlikely recruitment of Bill Frisell

Bill Frisell

William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...

 on lead guitar.

The cover illustration is by Steve Vance.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Loudon Wainwright III

1. "My Biggest Fan" – 6:02
2. "No Sure Way" – 5:29
3. "Had to Be Her" – 5:02
4. "Hank and Fred" – 4:55
5. "Half Fist" – 4:13
6. "To Be on TV" – 4:03
7. "God's Country" – 3:14
8. "Make Your Mother Mad" – 4:06
9. "When You Leave" – 5:22
10. "Nanny" – 3:12
11. "Here Come the Choppers" – 6:42
12. "Things" – 4:06

Personnel

• Loudon Wainwright III - acoustic guitar
  Acoustic guitar
  An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
  
  , vocals
• Jim Keltner
  Jim Keltner
  James Lee "Jim" Keltner is an American drummer known primarily for his session work. He has contributed to the work of many well-known artists...
  
   - drums, percussion
• Bill Frisell
  Bill Frisell
  William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...
  
   - electric guitar
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  
• Greg Leisz
  Greg Leisz
  Greg Leisz is an American multi-instrumentalist, playing lap and pedal steel guitars, guitar, mandolin, and bass.- Biography :Leisz was influenced early on by the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers, especially pedal steel player "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow...
  
   - mandolin
  Mandolin
  A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
  
  , pedal steel, electric & lap steel guitar
• David Piltch - electric & acoustic bass
• Coco Love Alcorn
  Coco Love Alcorn
  Coco Love Alcorn is a Canadian pop and jazz singer. The daughter of jazz singer John Alcorn, she released her debut album in 1995. She subsequently toured as an opening act for Burton Cummings, Chantal Kreviazuk, Jesse Cook and Ani DiFranco, and performed on some Lilith Fair dates.She is also a...
  
   - vocals
• Chris Gestrin - Wurlitzer
  Wurlitzer
  The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to simply as Wurlitzer, was an American company that produced stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments, theatre organs, band organs, orchestrions, electronic organs, electric pianos and jukeboxes....
  
  

• Shawn Pierce
  Shawn Pierce
  Shawn Pierce is a Canadian musician, audio engineer, mixer, music editor and film composer. He is noted for his music for the TV series Wildfire, Todd and the Book of Pure Evil and Haven.-Career:...
  
  - Engineer, Audio Engineer, Mixing