Waco Brothers –Going Down In History (Bloodshot)
Those expecting to possibly hear the bro-country refrains of mainstream names like Florida County Line or Kenny Chesney are advised to move on. As always, since their origins dating back to the mid-1990s, the Waco Brothers continue to defiantly straddle the crossroads of country music and punk rock. And while the departure of steel guitarist Mark Durante a few years ago has removed the overt nuances of the former genre, Jon Langford and his crew manage to infuse all 10 songs here with plenty of roots-rock swagger. Kicking off with the mandolin-kissed opener “Diybyob,” the Wacos churn out hefty originals ranging from “Receiver” and its Peter Gunn-like rumble to the anthemic “Lucky Fool” and its abundance of harmonies and hefty twang. Packed in are two covers—a soaring reading of the Small Faces’ “All or Nothing” dedicated to that band’s late keyboardist and Wacos buddy Ian McLagan and the closing number, a fiddle-fueled romp through Austin-based singer-songwriter Jon Dee Graham’s “Orphan Song.” Clocking in at just under a half hour, the latest by the Wacos manages to make a raucous bid to be one of the first great albums to come out in 2016.
