The Jayhawks: Rainy Day Music

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * *)

On their sixth and previous album, Smile, the Jayhawks - veterans of the Americana/ alt-country movement - shook off their last bit of rustic charm and with it went any chance of that album having much lasting appeal.

The partial good news here is that they've got some of it back on a warm, raw-edged set that doesn't overdo things on the production front, care of Ryan Adams' sidekick Ethan Johns.

It also comes with a set of songs that frequently reminds of the equation: Beatles influences divided by Midwest guys with country-rock smarts can equal great tunes. Among those are the openers Stumbling Through the Dark (a co-write with Matthew Sweet, which is reprised at the end), the equally pretty All The Right Reasons and Don't Let the World Get in The Way.

But it does tend to bland out along the way, especially if the natural comparison for this is fellow travellers Wilco's great, askew Yankee Hotel Foxtrot of last year.

But if Jeff Tweedy's Wilco are now the radical experimental Lennon of the alt-country scene, it seems the Jayhawks are comfy being the ever-melodic if repetitive McCartney.

Label: American/ Lost Highway