The Derailers / Full Western Dress (1999)

Austin’s Derailers are channeling Bakersfield better than anybody except maybe Dwight, and they’re doing a fine job of it. It’s the kind of bare bones honky-tonk that fills countless clubs and bars across the country, a music that strikes at the heart and soul of the country genre. I listen and think, finally: steel guitar breaks right where I expect them. An unpretentious bass line. Background singing from actual band members. Reverb. Songs about girls. There are no surprises, no obnoxious cross-genre pollination, nothing that would scare Tommy Duncan, and the band is not trying hard impress me. Hell, I won’t ask for more in a country record! From the first track, I can smell the stale beer and hear the empties shuffling underfoot. It's a feeling that brother Robert or Lyle give me each and every time I listen to them, a feeling that's getting hard to find these days at the record shop. The Derailers' lyrics are simple and easily related to, the themes old as nails: love, loss, other stuff like that. It's like a love letter to life cooked up by a bunch of guys in attractive suits with matching boots. Produced by Dave Alvin and supported by a cast of veteran string bangers, Full Western Dress is one of the most earnest stabs at country music I’ve heard in 25 years. Thank you, Derailers, for getting it all back on the track.