Dollar Store – Money Music

Dollar Store is the rare Waco Brothers side project that doesn’t include Jon Langford. Guitarist Dean “Deano” Schlabowkske’s outfit retains some of the Wacos’ rowdy, politically spiked alt-country rock. The band’s sophomore effort, however, strips away some of their debut’s twangier elements to create a fierce cowpunk sound reminiscent of Jason & the Scorchers. It is a bit surprising that the guitar star isn’t Deano but Tex Schmidt, a German punkabilly vet whose wild-eyed playing blazes from the opening title track through the closing “Dying Light”. Schlabowkske’s cinderblock vocals are well-suited to his working-class odes “Company Town” and “Work=Reward”. He also scores with “Hurricane Charley” — “a song about the weather and cleaning up the mess” — while the delightfully jaunty, organ-fueled “Twisting In The Wind” recalls Nick Lowe’s Cowboy Outfit days. With this passionately played disc of rugged rock, Dollar Store serves a challenge to its Waco Brothers brethren.