Old 97's: Rhett Miller (vocals, guitar); Murry Hammond (vocals, bass); Ken Bethea (guitar); Philip Peeples (drums, percussion). Additional personnel: Exene Cervenkova (vocals); John Rauhouse (pedal steel, banjo); Wally Gagel (piano, Mellotron, percussion). Recorded at Village Productions, Tornillo, Texas. The Old 97's make their jump to the majors on their second release without sacrificing any of their fire. Though they're lumped with the country-rock revivalists, they owe more to the punk-inflected sound of Mekons offshoot/former labelmates the Waco Brothers than to the Flying Burrito Brothers. Instead of relying on traditional country instrumentation, their sound is based on a foundation of fierce electric guitars and ape-with-a-stick drumming. The ferocity of their attack keeps the country cliches they occasionally revive from sounding hackneyed. The urgency and restlessness of songs like "Timebomb" and "Niteclub" share a common bond with the gotta-get-outta-here rebel spirit of the Clash's underdog anthems. The band's cowpunk roots show most clearly on "Four Leaf Clover," a duet with X's Exene Cervenka that will take you back to the days when it still seemed like Jason & The Scorchers could change the world.

• Genre: Pop
• Format: Vinyl
• Released: 01/06/2017