Winning ways with country

Are you ready for the country? How about the alt.country, country-pop and some blues?

Sounding partway between Waylon's warble and Willie's languorous delivery, the self-titled debut by the Hacienda Brothers sounds like they are the oldest new kids on the block.

They are fronted by singer-songwriter Dave Gonzalez from the rockabilly outfit the Paladins, and guitarist/accordionist Chris Gaffney from Dave Alvin's band.

Produced by Dan Penn and with guests Spooner Oldham, Jim Lauderdale and the Memphis Horns, among others, this is a winning brand of Western soul with a smattering of weeping pedal steel (Seven Little Numbers), aching country balladry (I'm So Proud), truckstop twang (South of Lonesome) and Al Green-goes-country (Lookin' For Loneliness, Walkin on my Dreams).

There is unalloyed beauty here (Penn's Years That Got Away given an emotional reading by Gaffney) and the occasional tongue-in-cheek sincerity alongside the real thing make this a quiet, multi-play winner. Recommended.

Tennessee-born Nashville-based singer-songwriter Stephen Simmons doesn't lie. A lesser artist might have opened an album with something up-tempo but Simmons starts as he means to go on with the downbeat The Good Life, I've Got Issues Baby I'll Probably Never Resolve.

His debut album Last Call announces the arrival of a major talent who views life from the perspective of the sinners, not the saved, from those who have driven the back roads, spent time inside, or live with guilt.

These finely detailed stories invite comparisons with Steve Earle and acoustic Bruce Springsteen, sung in a hard-edged sometimes slurry style which suggests indifference or not givin' a damn.

Terrific songs here: the wild-child narrative of Loserville; the sense of shame and avoidance of the past in Shirley's Stables; the unspoken menace of Dirty Side Of Me.

All this in spare arrangements, a few augmented by pedal steel, and every now and again some kicking drums. Good one all round.

Austin's Ray Wylie Hubbard's previous album was appropriately titled Growl, a collection of hardnose ballads and slightly cynical rocking country from one of life's survivors. The title of his latest, Delirium Tremolos, might suggest more visceral tough rockin' country from the man who wrote Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother in the 70s.

But this is a more muted, weatherbeaten collection of songs by fellow travellers Eliza Gilkyson, James McMurtry, Slaid Cleaves and others. He also reaches back into his songbook for ragged-but-rich versions of Dust of the Chase and his popular Dallas After Midnight.

It is a textured collection. There's a gospel lift to Woodie Guthrie's This Morning I Am Born Again when Cleaves, Gilkyson, Patti Griffin and producer Gurf Morlix weigh in on the chorus; he digs out acoustic country blues for the old Roll and I Tumble; rocks out on McMurtry's Choctaw Bingo with the electrifying guitars of Morlix and McMurtry; and on Gilkyson's The Beauty Way brings sensitivity to his sandpaper vocals. Ray is still part chunk of coal, part dirty diamond.

Acoustic blues player Kelly Joe Phelps from Oregon delivers his Tap The Red Cane Whirlwind live from McCabe's Guitar Shop in LA and a venue in SanFran before polite audiences hushed by his intimate style. He flicks through his recent songbook for his Beat-like poetics on Fleashine and Gold Tooth, the redemptive Jericho, and others. But fans will have other versions of most of these and live he doesn't add much more depth or resonance. Newcomers will be suitably impressed by the strong songs but probably not the hour-long same-same haul.

Also, a plug for Dutch roots-blues singer-guitarist Hans Theessink whose live DVD A Blues and Roots Revue (Elite) captures his power and presence even better than his albums. With backing from a Zimbabwean vocal group, extra footage, an interview and video clips, this is a fine calling-card for his big voice, excellent band and his original songs.

HACIENDA BROTHERS - HACIENDA BROTHERS (Southbound)
(Herald rating * * * *)
Soulful country music with the great songwriter Dann Penn as guest and producer, melding Willie Nelson and Al Green.

STEPHEN SIMMONS - LAST CALL (Southbound)
(Herald rating * * * *)
Songs from hard-scrabble roads, bar stools and prison cells, ringing with sin and guilt and feeling utterly authentic.

RAY WYLIE HUBBARD - DELIRIUM TREMOLOS (Elite)
(Herald rating * * * *)
Rock'n'roll country-blues survivor flicks through the songs of others and nails them.

KELLY JOE PHELPS - TAP THE RED CANE WHIRLWIND (RYKO)
(Herald rating * *)
Bluesman delivers a live album but despite the consistent quality of the songs it hardly gets the pulses racing.