The Bad Livers were an American band from Austin, Texas, United States, whose inventive musical style defied attempts to categorize them according to existing genres.

[11] The Stranger credited them with "revitalizing roots music",[12] and, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, "The Bad Livers helped open the way for old-time and bluegrass bands of today".

[17] A typical set in 1991[18][19] included a wide variety of styles and periods of music, as Rubin later explained: "We were doing Mississippi John Hurt, gospel tunes, Captain Beefheart—anything, really, but it was Motörhead or the Misfits that caught on.

"[27] Barnes' original compositions were featured on their first album, Delusions of Banjer,[28] released in 1992 on Quarterstick Records and produced by Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers.

The Washington Post described them as "truly great",[30] The Times-Picayune praised their "serious musicianship" and Barnes' "soulful, urgent lead vocals",[31] while Rolling Stone admired their "striking blend of virtuoso flash and poignant simplicity".

[39] Raoul Hernández poetically concurred, saying that the record sounded "like a bunch of skeletons cackling into the sole microphone that dangles from the outhouse ceiling".

[44] The Austin American-Statesman agreed that Barnes was "an entirely underrated songwriter" as well as a "banjo wizard",[45] while The Washington Post lauded his "timeless, deadpan voice".

[42] The Bad Livers' second album for Sugar Hill, Industry and Thrift, was released in September 1998 with only Barnes and Rubin credited as members of the band,[55] though the album features various guest musicians, including members of Rubin's side project, Rubinchik’s Orkestyr,[56] who are featured on the track "A Yid Ist Geboren inz Oklahoma".

[15] The Bad Livers' final album, Blood and Mood, was released in February 2000 and featured, as The Austin Chronicle noted with astonishment: "Electric punk rock, sample-based tunes with drum tracks, and a shocking scarcity of juiced-up banjo playing".