Big Iron World
A concept album about gigantic household appliances taking over the world? No such luck. As the images of Hank Williams, Bob Dylan and Sun-era Elvis floating in the background might indicate, this Nashville band is strictly old school, singing about unemployed riverboat workers, covering Woody Guthrie and plucking banjos like there was no tomorrow. Produced by David Rawlings,Big Iron Worldboasts the expected barnstormers ("Cocaine Habit") and late-night meditations ("God's Got It") alongside a handful of folkie sing-a-longs ("Down Home Girl") and a thoroughly unexpected reference to Karl Rove. And where else are you going to hear songstress Gillian Welch banging away on the drums?--Aidin Vaziri