Wicked Twisted Road
Rockin' and eclectic, this Austin quintet aims to brighten honky-tonk nights with their fifth album,Wicked Twisted Road. Sure, there's a sense of regret in the opening title track and "Dogtown"--mostly for squandered youth and aspirations--but Celtic fiddle lines and singer Willie Braun's lilting melody makes the tour story "Seven Nights in Eire" a genuine pub song, and "Motel Cowboy Show" celebrates  all-night boozin' and lovin' with hot pickin' and a rollicking drum beat. A revving motorcycle kicks off the bad -boy-on-the-run stomp "Sixgun." And there are bad girls, too, like the cruel lover who's "bitter and sweet as a death-row meal" in "Nobody Haunts Me Like You." There's also no shortage of big guitars, growling through half of these numbers and happily rubbing up against the spiky blues harmonica of the post-breakup slammer "Wretched Again." The album winds down with a lovely acoustic instrumental version of the title track--proof that even a wicked twisted road dotted with robberies, heartbreak, and drunkenness can turn back home, peacefully, again.--Ted Drozdowski