This electric/acoustic bluegrass boogie band does an amicable job of throwing up some dust on their new nine-track release. “Sleepwalking Killer” gets things off to a good start with lickety-split rhythms, plenty of twanging guitars and a banjo thrown in for good measure. “Same Old” follows almost the same exact formula, except the acoustic guitars take front and center, and the drum sticks are given away for brushes, but the vibe is completely the same. “Barbed Wire Bed” finally steeps itself into rustic bluegrass Americana and ditches the electric guitars altogether, showing off the pure, raw talents of this group. Other tracks that try for the more pop country format, like “Dollar Bill Blues” don’t suit the band as well. Ditto that for the corny clichéd lyrical pursuits of “Drink You off My Mind.” And, well, the closing “Rocktopus” really doesn’t fit at all with the rest of the album. Too bad, because the first half of this disc really is good. When these guys stray from the bluegrass trappings, though, they lose it all over the place.(self-released)
