Derailers – Full Western Dress

While there’s still no mistaking the Derailers’ roots in the Bakersfield sound, the Austin honky-tonkers bare their ’60s pop souls more than ever on this follow-up to 1997 major-label debut Reverb Deluxe.

The honky-tonk hallmarks are still there — pedal steel, fiddle, and shuffles such as “Lost And Found”, about a bar where “the barmaid gently wakes you if you fall asleep/And asks you if you need a cab, or maybe one more round.” There’s even the last-minute addition of “Play Me The Waltz Of The Angels”, a sad, sweet duet with Buck Owens that refers to a Wynn Stewart hit Owens played guitar on in 1956.

But the disc also packs a healthy wallop of pop. “Long On Love” begins with the Phil Spector bass-drum-and-tambourine treatment, while “Just To Spend The Night With You” is so steeped in Merseybeat it could be mistaken for a Herman’s Hermits tune. Then there’s a rockin’ rendition of Marty Robbins’ “Knee Deep In The Blues” — a cover that, arguably, could be the new definitive version.

Produced, as were the band’s previous two releases, by Dave Alvin, Full Western Dress features lead guitarist Brian Hofeldt’s vocals more prominently than on past efforts, while rhythm guitarist Tony Villanueva’s barroom baritone still nails glorious honky-tonk numbers such as “The Right Place” and “Hold On Fool Heart”. Villanueva and Hofeldt’s captivating harmonies meld better than ever, sounding like a countrified Lennon and McCartney on the fast shuffle “Whatever Made You Change Your Mind”.

The only song that doesn’t work is a cover of “Then She Kissed Me”, a new version of the 1962 Crystals hit so faithful to the original that the Derailers’ personality gets buried. Overall, however, Full Western Dress is further evidence of a band strengthening its voice with each successive release.