Abe Manuel, Jr. was part of Merle Haggard’s squadron in the ’90s, but eventually returned to his ancestral Gulf Coast homeland where he’s performed and recorded with various Cajun-country aggregations ever since. This offering—the first under his name—collects previously released, out-of-print gems coupled with seven new beauts. Eleven tracks come from the out-of-print Honky Tonk Band CD, and include such regional favorites as “H.B.P.D.” and the title track. The uninitiated will either detest these demented proceedings or lovingly embrace them, depending how paramount humor is in one’s life survival kit. Comparisons to a Cajun Roger Miller aren’t that far off. With endless cartoonish voices, he delivers such laugh-out-loud lines as “I crawled up to her like a man” (“Alligator Woman”) and testifes that he’s dropped his carnal vices, changed his religion and now he’s too good to die (“Hypochristian Waltz”). Though warped humor prevails, Manuel is also skilled at a variety of instruments, including accordion, so many tracks rock, swing and boogie. Occasionally his songwriting gets serious, as on the dreamy “Rainbow Song” where he ponders, “Where do the stars go at night?” and “Who’s in charge of setting up the moon?” Sure, they’re rhetorical questions for useless philosophical thought, but if Abe Manuel, Jr. asks them, they’re worth considering.