(Mint) www.mintrecs.com
Fantastic, this is. Classic high lonesome sound, plaintive vocals, pitterpattery train drums, basslines you could walk, nay BOUND, past Nashville on, with lashings of twinkling pedal steel leading the honkytonkmerrygoround into a dance with Patsy Cline while being leered at by Ray Price, Lefty Frizzell and George Jones (when he did a few good rockabilly-esque songs to compete with Elvis. O-k-a-ay). Reminds me hugely and pleasingly of The Wannabe Texans who I stumbled upon a few months ago, and similarly play a rootsy countrycajunbluegrass stir-fry which sounds instantly familiar but at the same time totally fresh, like you always imagine honky tonk to have been but never quite was. Simple, but very well written songs, sweet without being saccharine, with some brilliantly dark, quirky lyrics that are reminiscent of good ol' Hank Williams. On the magical Oh Darkness - "Why can't I see through my window, is it too dirty or am I just too short". Or on The Apple of your Black Eye - "Don't ask me for black eyed peas but you can have a black eye if you please / don't ask me for more fried okra, if you did I might try and choke you". Several of the songs are in the same stable as Gram Parsons (Blue Eyes, We'll Sweep Out The Ashes) in the way they swing a-go-go... The anti-Bush title track is a hugely pertinent statement (Recorded last September I'm assuming it was writ up before Sept 11th) what with his talk of exercising his itchy Texan trigger finger - "Free to do what? - to ruin the whole world" and "Mr. President from the elections that weren't free / Thanks for all the violence and the hypocrisy." There's not a bad moment in all of this, if you like varying noise with stuff like Gillian Welch or Lucinda Williams go out and buy it. Hell, buy it anyway, it's cool. - Stu Gibson