Legendary Shack Shakers are suffering from a case of unwanted over-punctuation.

The band started off as Those Legendary Shack Shakers in 1993, but they kept getting lumped into the "T" section of alphabetical calendar and directory listings. They tried to simplify matters and improve their alphabetical positioning by shorting "Those" to "Th,' " but still ended up in the dreaded "T" section and were even referred to as "The Legendary Shack Shakers."

To make matters even worse, the band used to have a star graphic between the words "Shack" and "Shakers" but journalists who were too busy on deadline changed the star to an asterisk, so now the band is often booked as "Th' Legendary Shack*Shakers."

"It's like there was nothing we could do. We tried to simplify it and they just kept putting us in the wrong section," Legendary Shack Shakers frontman J.D. Wilkes said. "It's the journalists that sent us to this hell of over-punctuation."

But no matter what name they're called by, they're known widely for their intense live performances in which all four members of the band put on a show, not just frontman Wilkes.

"It's just a rock 'n' roll band that cares that the audience has a good time," he said. " We're not up there staring at our sandals, we're not contemplating the navel, we're just trying to put on a show for people because that's what working people deserve."

Their live show is such a part of what they do that the band spent the early part of this week re-recording a few songs for their upcoming album "AgriDustrial." The songs had changed and improved for the better as they broke them out for audiences during encores, and they want the album, due out early next year, to have as much of a live feel as possible.

The new songs, as the name of the album implies, mimic things heard on the farm, from natural noises to the sound of ag equipment. Guitar player Duane Denison, formerly of The Jesus Lizard, has brought a harder edge to the sound through a prepared guitar, which involves weaving wires through his instrument's strings. The rhythm section has also locked together to create new patterns and styles not heard on the Legendary Shack Shakers' previous trio of albums, Wilkes said.

The new sounds and songs have been received well by audiences so far, he added.

"They're already mouthing along," he said. "I don't really know what they're singing, but they're moving their lips to where they kind of look like they are pretending to know the words. It's a strange phenomenon. It's weird when people obviously don't know the lyrics but they're trying to mouth along and pump their fist anyway."

The lyrical content is very similar to previous Legendary Shack Shakers albums, with the usual cast of characters that includes hobos, misfits and ghosts. Wilkes continues to draw much of his inspiration from the forgotten history of the Deep South.

"I'm obsessed with history, American history, especially Southern history and folklore," said Wilkes, who has lately been reading "The Kentucky Book of the Dead" by Keven McQueen. "That's always fascinated me because it's boring otherwise. You look out and you see malls and strip malls, prefabricated communities and subdivisions. That doesn't really fire up the imagination, and people don't realize what went on before there was that concrete strip of crap. Those rolling hills carry a lot of secrets."

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