Hillbilly Idol – Town & Country

Hillbilly Idol may be a side-project for its members — that’s what the promo material says — but you wouldn’t know it from the music. With a good dose of retro sounds for a base — the album’s opener, Paul Kovac’s “It All Depends On You”, captures a swinging strain of ’50s country down to the last detail — it’s clear these guys have spent a lot of time getting cozy with the record player. Al Moss’ pedal steel playing is for real, and so is Dave Huddleston’s electric guitar work. The arrangements reflect a love not just for the aura of the old stuff, but for the detail that is the real bone and sinew of classic country music.

Given that kind of accomplishment, there’s a lot to enjoy here; on the other hand, there’s still some work to be done, mostly on material. “It All Depends On You” is a beauty, Moss’s “By Now” has a tight, almost pop flavor to its construction, and they get the upper hand on Bob Hicks’ lovely and difficult “Someone Before Me” (courtesy of the Wilburn Brothers). Not everything on the album is up to that level, though. There aren’t any bad songs here, mind you, but a few of them would have benefited from some harder work on the lyrics, or maybe on the lead vocals; sometimes it’s hard to tell where that little hint of disappointment comes from.

Regardless, Town & Country shows a group with serious chops and a passion for doing things not the easy way, but the right way. That sets them apart from a lot of other retro-allusive acts, and their flaws are easily outweighed by their strengths on this impressive debut.