Brand New Year
The Bottle Rockets--arguably the biggest band to come from the middle of nowhere that is Festus, Missouri--have never been afraid to rock. While their alt-country contemporaries pursue a calmer path in the spiritGram Parsons-influenced Americana, Brian Henneman and his boys play Southern honky-tonk that's steeped in sawdust and beer. OnBrand New Year, the band move their straight-ahead rock & roll up a notch, tearing through 14 songs that wouldn't sound out of place performed behind a chicken-wire barricade. That's not to say they've dumbed down; the Bottle Rockets continue their exploration of blue-collar America with keen, average-Joe observations, although they do try a bit too hard on some tracks, notably "White Boy Blues." Most of the songs, however, are fantastic, good-natured barroom rockers: check out the swinging "Nancy Sinatra" and "I've Been Dying," the thundering "Helpless," and the brilliantly titled "Love Like a Truck."Brand New Yearis simply good old fist-waving, back-to-basics rock & roll.--Robert Burrow