It’s time for another spanking, St. Louis.

Austin’s Asylum Street Spankers will administer the blows Wed. night at their usual venue, the Off Broadway.
Never known for their modesty, they have titled their new release God’s Favorite Band. It’s another solid outing with several new tunes and covers of “Wade in the Water” and the Violent Femmes’ “Jesus Walking on the Water.”

If you haven’t been to a Spankers show, you’re in for a treat. It’s easily worth the cover in entertainment value with comedy and theater bolstering the music.

With a ever shifting lineup of now seven members, the band has averaged about an album per year mixing all kinds of roots music - country, bluegrass, jazz and Vaudeville to name a few. Founders and lead vocalists Christina Marrs and Wammo have been the two constants, lugging their banjo, washboard, guitars, saw and other odd instruments all over the country over the last decade and a half.

They are at their best when they travel back to the Roaring 20s on songs like “Wake and Bake.” The duo hits the mark with old-timey, gramophone-cranked vocals and modern, naughty lyrics.

I reached Wammo by email recently as the band prepped for the road. Make sure to request ‘Hick Hop’ at the show - it never gets old.

RC: Where did you grow up?
W: Born in NY. Beat up in San Antonio.

RC: Were you a punk rock fan from an early age?
W: Punk infected my soul in 1979.

RC: I read that your father (opera singer William Walker) appeared on Johnny Carson 60 times. Do you recall watching him on TV?
W: Watching Dad was the only time we got to stay up late. I kept thinking, “Hey, when am I gonna be on the tonight show?” I’m still waiting.

RC: Tell me about the new album, where was it recorded?
W: It’s a live gospel record recorded at a club in Austin.

RC: How do you pick your cover songs?
W: I sing two originals and one cover on the new record. The cover, It Ain’t Necessarily So, is by Gershwin.

RC: Do you have an example of a cover or two that didn’t end up working well?
W: I tried to do a country gospel version of the Talking Heads’ “Heaven.” It was a good idea but it never really panned out.

Asylum Street Spankers
8 pm Wed., Off Broadway, $17/20
http://www.myspace.com/asylumstreetspankers

Click here for our full event listing.