Sex & Violins(also known on later US releases as Cotton Eye Joe (Sex & Violins)) is the debut studio album by Swedish Eurodance group Rednex, released on Jive Records in February 1995.
Female vocals on the album are provided by Annika Ljungberg; due to a disagreement with the other band members, she left the band after the release of the album's fifth single, "Rolling Home", in 1996, to start a solo career. The album was a commercial success, including the hit dance single "Cotton Eye Joe".
For its US release, the album was retitled Cotton Eye Joe (Sex & Violins) and received new cover art – presumably due to the possible offensive nature of the original artwork, which depicted a person urinating into a chamber pot with the band members' faces. Initially, the album cover was edited to leave out the golden shower but with the yellow liquid remaining. This would be substituted for wholly original artwork for a short time, which depicted a desert landscape with cacti warped by heat haze, but returned to the unedited original cover after a single pressing.[8]
David Browne from Entertainment Weekly said, "For sheer audaciousness, it’s not surprising that the record is garnering such attention. Where else can you hear a barn-dance staple gone techno, complete with dance-diva wailing and manic banjos and fiddles?"[3] Pan-European magazine Music & Media stated, "What started off as a good joke with 'Cotton Eye Joe', could now very well become the best promotion for what is euphemistically called "New American Music". Dance can definitely bring country music closer to the masses than any strategic marketing campaign could before the Rednex popped up."[5]Neil Spencer from The Observer wrote, "Swedish barn-dance disco: an initially amusing joke (chart-topping 'Cotton Eye Joe') repeated to the point of inanity."[9] Jordan Paramor from Smash Hits was very negative to the album, giving it one out of five, but praised 'Wish You Were Here' as a "very lovely ballad".[7]
"The Sad But True Story of Ray Mingus, the Lumberjack of Bulk Rock City, and His Never Slacking Strive to Exploit the So Far Undiscovered Areas of the Intention to Bodily Intercourse from the Opposite Species of His Kind, During Intake of All the Mental Conditions That Could Be Derived from Fermentation" ("Harder Than Your Husband" on Spotify[10])
Banjo – Gary Johansson, General Custer, and Kjell Johansson
Bass – Björn Lagberg
Drums – Anders Lövmark, Animal, and Heffa
Guitar – Anders Hellquist, Boba, Bonne Lövman, Clint Eastwood, and Henrik Jansson
Steel guitar – Uffe Sterling
Harmonica – Ove Sandberg
Piano – Henrik Widén
Violin – Bosse Nilsson
Vocals – Anders Hansson, Annika Ljungberg, Björn Lagberg, Camena, Camilla Molinder, Chris Sylvan Stewart, Cool James, Currey, Göran Danielsson, Hanna Wannagárd, Henrik Widen, Hoss, Janne Ericsson, Jean-Paul Wall, Jeanette Söderholm, Joe Cartwright, Lotten Andersson, Ludde, Michelle Anenberg, Monte Reid, Pat Reiniz, Stefan Cevaco, Sir Een, Thomas Hegert, and Zeb Macahan
Producers – Pat Reiniz, Janne Ericsson, Anders Hansson, Denniz Pop, Max Martin, David Millington, Stefan Sir Een, L. Teijo, Anders Hellquist, and Thomas Hegert
