LeRoi Brothers – Kings of the Catnap

Back in 1983, in the good old days of freeform radio, an afternoon DJ at the fabled WHFS-FM in Washington, D.C., played a tune I concluded was called something “Blue”. It was a rocking, three-minute chunk of Blasters-like roots music that stuck to the brain pan like tar. The DJ never identified the band or the song, but the tape machine was running and the song was not lost to oblivion.

Fast-forward to this summer: I put on Kings Of The Catnap, the first domestic album by Austin’s LeRoi Brothers since 1992, and from the first lick of the opening track, “Scratchin’ On Down The Line”, I knew who played “Eternally Blue”. Despite 17 years and a few changes in the lineup, most notably guitarist Casper Rawls for Evan Johns (who went home to D.C.), the LeRoi Brothers sound as crisply rootsy as ever. And heaven knows we need that.

Founding members Steve Doerr (guitars, vocals) and Mike Buck (drums), joined by Rawls, bassist Pat Collins and a rasher of Austin guests, have kicked out 13 songs that expertly veer from rock (“Route 88”, with Jimmie Vaughan) to cajun-flavored (“One More Last Chance”) to X-like (“She’s Got Everything”, with Toni Price) to Bakersfield (“The First Time”, and that’s Buck Owens sitting in on acoustic guitar). “Dark Horse” and “Scratchin'” are hits in our house.

By the way, “Eternally Blue” is from the LeRois’ 1983 debut disc Check This Action, an indie-roots classic that’s still in print at Rounder.