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The Best Record Review We've Read...
Talk about a record that damn near matches up to my own eclectic tastes, track for track! These local rocky-tonk heroes-to-be (Nick Leet: vocals, guitar and organ; Mark Devaraj: drums, percussion,and guitar; Jon Tranberry: bass, organ, vocals, guitar and production; Ben Baker: vocals, guitars, organ, lapsteel and harmonica—not to mention special guests Mike Brady on banjo, Jim Anglo on axe, Elliot Hilton on piano and Rev. Matt Marohl on pedal steel) are equally at home spewing ‘Mats-ian vinegar, howlin’ out Haggard-isms or riffin’ off Rolling Stones-y lyrical lashings.

That’s really not such a big surprise, once you suss that various band members and contributors to this collection come from such varied backgrounds as Mr. Whirly, Accident Clearinghouse and the Turf Club Sunday Night Acoustic jam. Toss in a cornucopia of influences ranging from timeless mountain music to dirty pub rock to skivvy punk to roadhouse blues and you’ll have some idea of the absolutely fresh, urgent, in-the-moment groove running through Moonlight Girls.
Listen to Tracks from "Moonlight Girls:"
1. You Have Conversations with Jesus
2. Eyeliner Blues
3. Cash Machine
4. Gold Star
5. Harris County
6. Sleeping in the Backs of Cars
7. Minot
8. My Former Life on the Cutting Room Floor
9. Traffic Report
10. 1995
11. Post Card that Says Breathe
12. No Such Thing as an Easy Break
Highlights include the hypnotic, melancholy album opener, “You Have Conversations With Jesus,” which bucks and snorts like a randy, winter-bound stallion (“And you wonder what is wrong with me/ Don’t, because I’d like to know ... I’m tired an’ over you ...”), the edgy, nervous drive of “Eyeliner Blues,” the country death chuff of “Harris County” (“... an’ you ain’t never been high, boy/ An’ you ain’t never been stoned/ Until you suddenly find yourself alone ...”), and the honked-out, jug-guzzling ode to lost youth, “Sleeping In The Backs Of Cars,” which softly thrums its way into your head like a tall glass of good sippin’ whiskey: “Do you think we’re ever gonna see it through?/ An’ I’ll be alright/ Just for tonight/ An’ you’ll be high/ High as a kite/ Just for tonight ...” Been there, done that, don’t make me wanna go back but sure evokes the one-of-a-kind feeling of waking up in the cold dawn in the back seat of a ‘78 Oldsmobile with dried puke on my jacket, four cents left in my pocket and a cramp in my back from humping a seat divider all night.

The real treat for me here, though, is the absolute abandon and pure-dee musical joy that fairly oozes from the short-but-oh-so-sweet nugget “Cash Machine.” This one belongs on that great, mythical jukebox betwixt Doug Sahm’s “Give Back The Key To My Heart,” Dylan’s Blood On The Tapes rendition of “Tangled Up In Blue” and Ween’s “I Don’t Want To Leave You On The Farm.”

Like a lot of great country-fied rockers, the tune glides in on tentative acoustic strummin’ and a grab-you-by-the-balls line (“The moonlight girls make the weather/ Where the jukebox plays ‘Let’s Spend The Night Together ...’”), then slams into a barn-burnin’, soul-soaring, fuck-off-and-die to pain an’ heartache hootenanny. A universally-empathetic romp about livin’ life at the dark end of the street an’ just bein’ happy as a pig in shit that you can get a cash advance from the machine an’ drink yer troubles away one more hour, one more night, one more week: “Red-eyed girls/ Go home in fancy cars/ After all-night parties drinkin’ in the hip-hop bars/ An’ I go home, Studio 24, the jack of hearts/ Sleepin’ on the floor ...”

Though this whole album is chock full of killer hooks, note-perfect historic homages, and fresh, thoughtful lyrics, “Cash Machine” most embodies the spirit, guts and true-blue, whiskey-soaked American soul flowing through the band itself. High on stress? Fuck it, hit the cash machine, get an advance, go out an’ dance, let your survival be left up to chance ... killer shit. Tom Hallett in the Pulse, Jan. 19, 2006