The Old 97s Are Most Messed Up

After 20 years in music, the Old 97's say they know a few things about being messed up. Enough so, it seems, that the subject matter of this experience has finally become album material. Most Messed Up is all about bad decisions, bad behavior, and not treating yourself or other people so well.

It's also their raucous, boozy best as a 20th anniversary (or so) album, with some of their sharpest songwriting from beginning to end. Most of the tracks center on shrugging off everything wrong with the world and getting drunk or getting it on instead. It's all in good fun, even if the bandmates admit there is a dark side to it.

Most Messed Up is all of that and more. 

Although mostly known as pioneers of the alternative country movement out of Dallas, the Old 97's have picked up more folk rock leanings over the last few years. Led by frontman Rhett Miller, who has simultaneously nurtured a solo country career, the band has never sounded more accessible.

"It's such a reality of life, the question of how bad is drinking and how much horrible stuff in our lives, you know, is it responsible for," said Miller. "I wanted to grapple with that question, and it's something I wonder about in my own life. I feel like I'm on the right side of the line, but maybe a lot of people that aren't on the right side of the line would say that."

Band members Murry Hammond (bass), Ken Bethea (guitar), and Philip Peeples (drums) are all inclined to agree. Tommy Stinson (Replacements) and Jon Rauhouse (Neko Case, Jakob Dylan) might too. They lent some guitar work and lap steel respectively.


The album opens with We've Been Doing This Longer Than You've Been Alive, which extolls and exposes their career as road musicians. There is a feeling of considerable wear and tear on the band members as they inch their way into middle age.

It covers the best, worst, excitement and boredom of it all. But what makes it brilliant is how apparent it is that Miller wouldn't trade any of it, not even for a minute. And he conveys that condition with one of the rawest albums ever put out by the band.

The balance of the album, including a few standouts.

All dozen tracks are well worth the download. Standouts include the unabashed directness and self-loathing alluded to in Let's Get Drunk And Get It On, the youthful exurberance of the barroom folk ditty This Is The Ballad, and the rock and roll swagger of The Ex Of All You See.

But along with those, give a listen to the brutally honest country rocker Wasted and barn burner track Nashville that opens with Miller leaving his wife and his old life for nothing more than the road. Like many of the tracks, it succeeds in sounding punk as much as alternative country rock, without too much overthinking or meticulous editing.

Even Intervention reinforces the idea that there is still some hope to be had after a lifetime of drinking and bad decisions. The fact you can chant that along with them from a barstool makes the whole of Most Messed Up all the more appealing. Somehow the Old 97's make it all sound fun and worrisome at the same time. They regret their choices but celebrate surviving them anyway.

Most Messed Up By The Old 97'S Rollicks 9.2 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale. 

While some fans might not like to think of this as the band's best album, there is something about it that immediately clicks as a classic best played live on the smallest stage possible. Even the track Wheels Off has a beautifully unbalanced bounce to it that fits well within an alternative rock catalog.

You can find Most Messed Up [+digital booklet] by the Old 97's on Amazon or download it from iTunes. The album, Most Messed Up by the Old 97's, is also on Barnes & Noble. The Old 97's are touring the West Coast before heading east. Check their current schedule on Facebook.

Drive-By Truckers On English Oceans

Drive-By Truckers might have had their share of lineup changes since Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley founded the band back in the late 1990s, but the original duo have yet to disappoint. Joined by long-time members Brad Morgan and Jay Gonzalez and newcomer Matt Patton, English Oceans is a deeply engaging album that rocks more than any previous outing.

The change in sound can be mostly attributed to Cooley. He contribued six songs to the album, giving it a refreshed pace as the band alternates between him and Hood.

"I don't think we've ever had a record where Cooley was as deeply involved in every aspect of the making of it as he was this time," said Hood. "With Cooley's writing, there's almost no precedent for it in our catalog. He came in with this stunning bunch of songs, full of this beautiful imagery."

Cooley, who hadn't written as many songs as he wanted to on the last several albums, said he took advantage of a long rest after the last band's last tour. He revisited his approach to songwriting and was able to produce six tunes he cares strongly about. It comes across in his confident delivery.

Made Up English Oceans is a stark and tightly crafted track that brays on about prideful men who imagine themselves bigger than they ought to be. They often act without thinking, rushing up to act even they don't really know if their nerve will hold out. The tie to Lee Atwater adds more depth. 

The track itself is a solidly written song, made even stronger when blended in with contributions from Hood. In fact, this is what makes the album so striking. While the artists worked independently, they were unknowingly creating material that complemented each other. 

The dynamic is memorable because it creates a back-and-forth flow that is unique to the album but not their shows. Alternating between singers has been a long-time staple of Drive-by Truckers. They just do it all the more better now. 

The Part Of Him by Hood captures the contrast nicely, accenting his much wearier voice that commands attention despite sounding so far away. The lyrics are less friendly, given that the song takes on politicians that can't be easily exorcised. It might be too cynical for some, but Hood makes it fun. He almost creates a sense of comfort in knowing that political scandals are part of the landscape. 

Aside from their political outings, Drive-By Truckers dig deeper into other subjects. My favorite track on the album is based the new novel by Willy Vlautin. Hood hits the right chords in illuminating the disquiet and desperation of American life during distressing times.

Other standouts include the rollicking opener Shit Shots Count, the stirring yet subtle co-dependence track When He's Gone, and the touching tell-all Primer Coat. The CD loses some steam around the mid-point. It doesn't pick up again unit the boot stomping First Air Of Autumn and closer Grand Canyon. 

English Oceans Rolls In And Out 7.4 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale. 

Fans of Drive-by Truckers will not be disappointed, with so many tracks featuring the band in top form. It's among their best in years. Even the songs that don't feel as lyrically vivid still sound great.

English Oceans by Drive-by Truckers can be found on Amazon. You can also order English Oceans on Barnes & Noble or download the album from iTunes. The band begins touring in mid-March, working their way up the East Coast before cutting across the Midwest. Check Facebook for shows.

The Bronx Take IV From Los Angeles

The Bronx has always added some swagger to its punk, landing the Los Angeles band somewhere between rock and hardcore. Their latest effort is an exception. IV is clearly more rock than punk.

It's somewhat expected. After Matt Caughthran and company spent five years nurturing the band's Latin-infused and folky alter ego, Mariachi El Bronx, they've lost some early edge but not their heart.

Truth be told, it might have happened without a 5-year album break anyway. Listening to III and IV creates the immediate impression that this would have been the band's progression. They were already leaning toward rock in 2008 and the new release just completes the journey in the best possible way.

The Bronx lays down a rock revival with some punk tendencies. 

The band even seems more comfortable with the new distinction. A hard rock band with punk leanings is much more brash than a softening polar opposite. In fact, even as the album eschews most of the band's punk influences in favor of riff-based hard rock, the little they do keep is where it all counts.

On tracks like Ribcage, the best song on the album, The Bronx delivers everything fast and frantic that is much more indicative of their punk beginnings while still sounding fresh. It gives their new rock sound an overall sharpness, which is what many mainstream rock bands lack. But not The Bronx. They still know how to balance out their music perfectly.



Other tracks that matter, like Too Many Devils and Torches, simultaneously prove how versatile The Bronx can be. While Too Many Devils lays down a driving tempo, supported by big riffs and frenzied percussion against Caughthran's persistent wail, Torches drops a gear to deliver a quieter, lyrical melody framed by powerfully climatic choruses. They are impossibly different, but each distinctively good.

Between those two tracks, Pilot Light showcases Joby J. Ford and Ken Horne with a standout classic rock track, with only Caughthran's gritty scream to keep it from sounding like an overtly simple rock staple. Youth Wasted and Along For The Ride are better suited to that mainstream stereotype.

In those cases, Caughthran smoothly delivers straightforward anthem rockers that sound fine on the first pass but forgettable after several. Both are solid and might even be strong on someone else's album. But knowing The Bronx is better on the bottom half makes them (and maybe the first four) an exercise in patience. You have to wait for the album that is infinitely better from track five forward.

Even the power lament Life Less Ordinary is more interesting than any of their straight-up rock offerings. The track becomes a standout in its spareness while also carrying the strongest confessional lyrics on the entire album. It gives Caughthran something to croon about before an amazingly solid closing track.

Why the band broke from punk beyond playing live shows. 

When members Caughthran, Ford, Horne, Jorma Vik, and Brad Magers sit down to make an album nowadays, they are always looking for magic to help make it happen. Caughthran has often said that their albums tend to make themselves, taking on a life of their own after a couple of tracks.

That didn't happen after the band produced their third record (or maybe during it). They hit a wall. So rather than becoming an aging punk band that becomes progressively softer and uninspired, they took a semi-hiatus with an alter ego band (while still playing punk shows too).

IV was the first time in five years that the band felt ready to come back, but this time as a rock band with a punk edge. Interestingly enough, the band wouldn't even mind if their dueling creative pursuits would merge, but they still haven't figured out how to make that happen. The closest they've ever come is Life Less Ordinary, which could have been written as a Mariachi El Bronx song.

IV by The Bronx Riles Up Rock At 6.5 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale. 

Overall, IV from The Bronx is a solid rock revival for the band. There is no question it's strong enough to bring back some of their rock prominence. Right now, the band is playing sold out shows in the United Kingdom with plans to head to Australia in April. The band is also touring Mariachi El Bronx with a short run stateside in March.

Meanwhile, The Bronx IV is on iTunes or the album can be found on Amazon. You can also pick up The Bronx IV on Barnes & Noble. Ribcage, by the way, can be downloaded for a limited time free from the band's website. For show listings, check out their Facebook page.

Enjoy The Company With The Whigs

The Whigs are a hard-working power trio from Athens, Georgia, who have been together for more than a decade, mostly on the road honing their craft as a live band. In 2006, Rolling Stone magazine named them one of its “10 Artists To Watch.” The attention led to plenty of performances on late night television (Leno, Kimmel, Letterman), but the Whigs kept on pushing for something different.

The self-described “normal rock” band has just released their fourth studio album, Enjoy the Company. It’s polished with a bit of an edge, marking a noticeable shift from their first three albums: In The Dark (2010), Mission Control (2008), and Give ‘Em All A Big Fat Lip (2006). All of them were released on Dave Matthews’s ATO Records.

Enjoy the Company switches labels and steps in a new direction.

For Enjoy the Company, the band switched to New West Records and this change marks a new direction. Singer/guitarist Parker Gispert, drummer Julian Dorio and bassist Tim Deaux all said they didn’t want to make an album that was lo-fi or overly glossy and slick.

To help them find their way, the band headed north to fabled Woodstock, New York, for a session inside the equally revered Dreamland studio. It was there they could lay the tracks down without distractions.

Producer John Agnello (Drive By Truckers, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr.) was enlisted to help the band craft an album full of road-tested tunes. Most of them are straightforward and more melodic. The result is an album that is, while not as nuanced as their previous work, more satisfying on every level.



The clip is rarity when the band was out audience testing songs in 2011. It sounds even richer on the album while retaining the real live-jam 8-plus minute feel that brought it all together. It also kicks off the album as one of the strongest tunes.

Gispert sings “Wind me up, wind me up” as the song is punctuated by soulful horns. And in breaking down the composition, the song has the potential to rank as one of the band’s best songs of all time.

Gospel is a guitar-heavy song with an upbeat melody. Here, Gispert shows he is smart enough to deliver his vocals without taking it over the top. It provides a great contrast to some of the Whigs' past work, which is better represented in songs like Rock And Roll Forever. It makes sense that they would pay homage to rock and roll heroes who had come before them.

Even the soft and gentle Thank You works on this album. As an acoustic number, it gives Gispert’s voice a chance to quietly shine. But that is not to say that the entire album is quiet or restrained. Waiting is a catchy rocker that moves along with a guitar-driven crispness.

In Summer Heat, Deaux’s bass provides a solid foundation with a fun and memorable chorus that will eventually become a crowd staple. Likewise, Tiny Treasures has an alt country feel that showcases the band’s diversity and Dorio’s solid, textured drumming.



"I hope that we’re always changing in the sense that we’re always keeping our ears open to what’s happening around us ... responding to the sounds we hear walking around Athens or what’s on the radio or what’s in the back of the bins in the record store," Gispert told ATO Records after the release of In The Dark as a foreshadow of things to come. "But the core of this band is always going to be a rock band. When we hit the stage, we are who we are."

Enjoy The Company With The Whigs At 4.8 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale.

The Whigs are the kind of band that doesn’t like anything fancy. They even set up their own equipment before each gig, which is just another reason to like them.

Enjoy the Company by the Whigs can be downloaded from iTunes. You can also download Enjoy the Company from Amazon or find it on vinyl from Barnes & Noble. If you have a chance, pick up tickets to see them live. They are currently on tour in the U.S. and Canada.

Two Gallants Bloom Amidst The Blight

Adam Stephens (guitar, vocals) and Tyson Vogel (drums, vocals) have been friends longer than they've been a band. They started playing together in the basement of Vogel's home around age 12, a little less than ten years before they decided to lay down some music.

When they did in 2002, they founded the indie rock/folk-punk duo Two Gallants in San Francisco. In the years that followed, they put out three albums and several EPs before several twists for the trouble-prone musicians prevented them from making a fourth. The band took a hiatus.

A few months ago, the two reunited to see if Stephens had healed enough to play (after being in an accident) and whether they could even play together (after several solos and side projects). They could, maybe even better than anyone expected as they resurfaced in small San Francisco venues.

The Bloom And The Blight adds a welcome edge to Two Gallants. 

Their new album, The Bloom And The Blight, picks up where they left off five years ago with a heavier overhauled sound. Their time apart, it seems, created some new angst and renewed passion.

It's very welcomed. Stephens' declarative vocals and fingerpicked guitar fuse effortlessly together with Vogel's wildly relaxed and reactive drums just like before. The difference is the aggression in some songs as The Bloom And The Blight broods, booms, and sears itself as a triumphant return.

The first track, Halcyon Days, is loosely tied to the caustic myth revolving around seven days of calm seas when kingfishers lay eggs. The tragedy and tranquility of it is served up in a brooding and blissful overload of sound. Stephens' familiar but more commanding coarseness ties it together.

The introduction makes perfect sense to draw attention to the heavier edges of the album. It also made for a fiery opener on the album trailer put out a few months ago. If there was ever a song that deserves a full run video, it's Halcyon Days. And with any luck, ATO Records will produce one sometime soon.



While the trailer gives a glimpse of other samplings, long-time fans will likely be looking for something more familiar. They'll find it in the second track, Song of Songs. Much like their earlier work, Song of Songs opens slowly before steadily escalating to a crescendo. If it didn't house one estranged a cappella moment, it would easily be among the album's best.

As it is, the tension and delivery of My Love Won't Wait is much better. After cueing it up with some spoken word, the song quickly erupts into an impatient and obsessive love sickness. While the lyrics are sparse and smart, it's the riffs that set the tempo and pounding percussion that makes it great.

The contrast between this thunderous pace and the sadly tender and folksy Broken Eyes that follows is as striking as it is out of place. The slower, downbeat and straightforward track clearly works, but its position is jarring. You won't hear it splitting up the songs, but much of the album is like that, alternating between smoldering tracks like Ride Away before slipping into something impossibly softer.

Where it does work well enough is in inside Winter's Youth. They toss the music back and forth between calm and storm. While many people will argue that the acoustic and folksy portions of The Bloom And The Blight show the band's soul, it's the more intense moments that give it some power.

More than all that, the Two Gallants prove that no matter the tempo or the tune, they continue to play like they don't consciously know they're in a studio or on the stage. They could just as easily be playing in a basement, effortlessly building on each other's growing talent.

The Bloom And The Blight Ignite 7.2 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale. 

Expect plenty of people to say it isn't much different or that it's too different for its own good. The truth is that the album lands somewhere in the middle and it is dependent on which track. But no matter whether you hear some softness or slash, the album easily commands attention, even if it does reignite some grunge elements.

Only a special vinyl comes with an exclusive 7-inch that, among other things, includes a cover of Jay Abner's song I'm So Depressed. On iTunes, The Bloom And The Blight includes the bonus track Dyin' Craspshooter's Blues. The bonus track is also included with The Bloom and the Blight from Amazon, but not the CD via Barnes & Noble.

The Two Gallants might have taken some time off from each other, but they are all in for their return. The duo has a full schedule to look forward to on Facebook. They have several shows booked in Texas before they head east for the Southern leg of their tour. They head to Europe in late October.

Bobby Long Fires Up Folk Rock On A Winter Tale

Bobby Long might currently reside in New York City, but the 24-year-old singer/songwriter from a small town in Wessex is still trying to find an audience in the States. That's about to change.

With the release of his studio debut A Winter Tale, produced by the always brilliant recording engineer Liam Watson (White Stripes), Long will be quick to pick up a presence in the United States much like he became a fixture at London’s open mic nights as a student attending London Metropolitan University.

Surprisingly down to earth (the possible by-product of growing up in a remote area), Long delivers what can be best described as poetic melodies underscored by elusive, imaginative lyrics. He says they come largely from his subconscious.

A Winter Tale by Bobby Long is raw and original music that touches America as much as England.

Fresh off a thesis titled The Social Impact of American Folk Music, Long went on to write Let Me Sign, which Robert Pattinson sung for the film Twilight. This time around, all the music appearing on A Winter Tale is performed as intended, with Long delivering intensely personal lyrics that only those fortunate enough to see him live or catch his bedroom-produced Dirty Pond Songs EP can attest to.

One of the first interviews to break out appears on Gibson, primarily because of his appreciation for the J-200. It was the first guitar he bought in America after seeing it on the cover of Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline.

"I love Dylan; I own his entire catalog," he said in the interview. "He’s definitely one of my favorite songwriters and lyricists so I’ll always consider him a major influence."


Dylan is not alone. Long has been gracious in giving props to Jimi Hendrix, Albert King, Tony Iommi, and a slew of blues and jazz musicians. While he doesn't mind the comparisons, once saying it beats a comparison to Bananarama, no one here is hearing the early Dylan as much as the first Bobby Long. If A Winter Tale proves to be a glimpse of things to come, new musicians will be listing Long among their influences in the next few years.

In sum, A Winter Tale is a coarser, often picked brand of folk rock with the broodingly balanced The Bounty Of Mary Jane, steadily straightforward In The Frost, brilliantly written Dead And Gone, and folk-infused minor key Being A Mockingbird all among the standouts. Penance Fire Blues also breaks great once it gets moving. A Winter Tale and Who Have You Been Loving are already fan favorites.

A Winter Tale By Bobby Long Goes Long With 8.6 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale.

Long is a prolific and confident poet armed with a guitar. And the decision to record live with a full band was brilliant, given he is someone you want to see live. What you won't see live, of course, are contributors like Nona Hendryx (LaBelle), B. J. Cole (Elton John, Sting), and Lay Low (an Icelandic singer).

Bobby Long's A Winter Tale is available on iTunes, with Two Tone Lover as a bonus track for anyone buying the album. A Winter Tale is also on Amazon. ATO Records is doing an excellent job helping to promote the upstart by releasing an equally honest digital documentary about the singer.

Photo credit by James Minchin.