Whiskeytown – Faithless Street

“I’ll ride with you tonight, I’ll ride forever/There’s no way to predict this kind of weather.” It’s the kind of opening line that sets a tone, sticks with you, serves as a harbinger that something significant is looming on the horizon.

That something is Whiskeytown, whose debut long-player Faithless Street is the best debut album of the year. As word starts getting around about this “alternative-country” thang and folks begin to look beyond the Wilcos and the Son Volts and the Bottle Rockets for further proof that similarly-styled young bands are coming out of nowhere, this Raleigh, North Carolina, outfit is at the top of the list.

Front and center is Ryan Adams, who’s barely past drinking age but clearly has that innate gift for songwriting that separates the real-deals from the also-rans. The irresistibly infectious rockers “Drank Like A River” and “If He Can’t Have You” are instant winners, the former coming on with a riff in the chorus that’s like Wilco’s “Casino Queen” squared. “Faithless Street” — a retitled remake of the title tune from the 7-inch “Angels” EP from earlier this year — and “Black Arrow, Bleeding Heart” indicate Adams has nearly as talented a touch with ballads. “Mining Town” is an effortlessly engaging slice of lazy acoustic pop; the leadoff cut “Midway Park” is more subtle but slowly, surely emerges as the best cut on the disc.

If great songs were the only element, this would still be a solid record, but Adams’ bandmates are no slouches themselves. Caitlin Cary plays a mean fiddle that adds a churning urgency to the rockers and a lamenting lilt to the ballads; she’s also a fine singer, offering vitally spunky harmonies on “Drank Like A River” and taking a Freakwater-esque lead on “Matrimony”. And the pedal steel playing of Bob Rickers is an essential element on mid-tempo cuts such as “Too Drunk To Dream” and guitarist Phil Wandscher’s “What May Seem Like Love”.

Things begin to wear down in the final stretch, as the rave-ups “Hard Luck Story”, “Top Dollar” and “Oklahoma” sound like bar-band knockoffs compared to what’s up-front. But by then it hardly matters; it’s merely the difference between a great album and a full-on classic. Me, I’ll settle for great, particularly from a band I hadn’t even heard of six months ago. Here’s hoping that’s no longer the case for the majority of alternative-rock fans six months hence: Faithless Street demands to be heard.