Backsliders – From Raleigh, North Carolina (EP)

Mighty nice of the fine folks at Mammoth to toss us a bone while we wait with increasing impatience for honky-tonk ‘n’ rollers the Backsliders’ full-length debut Throwing Rocks At The Moon, due out in early ’97. Recorded live at Raleigh, North Carolina’s misnamed Brewery (no self-respecting brewery would allow half as much beer to be spilled as what hits the floor during an average show by these guys), this six-song set expertly distills a typical evening with the Backsliders — gruff banter, the requisite Parsons and/or Hillman cover (“High Fashion Queen” in this case) and all.

The band’s three-guitar attack — chief vocalist Chip Robinson on acoustic, Steve Howell and Brad Rice on dueling electrics — cries versatility, and appropriately, the EP moves from a caress to a wallop. The first half of From Raleigh, North Carolina consists of three of the gentler songs from Backsliders’ stockpile: two tears-in-your-whiskey tunes, “Pain of Love” and “Number 5”, and a relatively new one called “Lexington Avenue”, which sounds a little like “Sunday Morning Comin’ Down” if it had written by Gram.

Then the mood changes. The genuinely spooky “Hey Sheriff” is a murderous-intent ballad that devolves into a frenzy of feedback, thunderstorm drums and brandished straight razors, while the big-guitar anthem “Yep!” will inspire you to dig out your well-worn vinyl copy of Neil Young’s Zuma.