Hillbilly Heights
This Austin denizen has a country sensibility that has much to do with stalwarts likeLefty FrizzellandFaron Young, and very little relation to Nashville's mall-country mainstream. His supple voice and evocative songs bring a whiff of whiskey, women, and trouble, with fiddle-and-steel accompaniment that's surely traditional without ever sounding self-consciously retro. Songs like "Wishful Drinking" and "Moonlight Never Shines on a Loner" are just the thing for scooting a boot across a Texas beer-joint floor, with clever lyrics and topnotch playing. The only thing that works against this release is production that feels a bit too restrained. All told, this is an impressive debut effort from a young artist who epitomizes the Austin honky-tonk scene.--Jerry Renshaw