Evinrudes [CD] 1998

Any group that nicks its moniker from a classic outboard motor company simply can't be all bad. Still, you might wade into the debut from Nashville's EvinRudes expecting a listing dinghy. What you'll get is more like a high-speed hydrofoil. Revolving around the dreamy, vaguely British vocals of Sherry Cothran, these songs are so far from traditional Music Row twang, they almost feel like its stylistic polar opposite. And Cothran isn't afraid to twist Southern vernacular into her own Flannery O'Connor brand of Gothic. In "Have Some Rain" she wails, "I keep waking up deep in the Everglades / Wearing nothing but a cool pair of shades / Psychosis runs in the family." And the band blithely puts Bible-thumping gospel leanings to work on the grim "Jimmy's on Crack (And I Don't Care)." It's only when the EvinRudes venture straight-faced into Memphis soul--via Cothran's evocative rustic trill on the Otis Redding tribute "Otis"--that the mint julep roots tendril toward the surface. And it's a fine message the disc imparts: not everyone in Nashville is a cowboy, thank you. Somewhere out in the sagebrush, the indie-rock spirit is polishing up its six-shooter and a-fixin' to ride on into town for a showdown.

CONDITION: NEW, Gold Imprint on CD

TRACK LISTING

1 Drive Me Home
2 Have Some Rain
3 Along The Way
4 Jimmy's On Crack (And I Don't Care)
5 Otis
6 Dick And Jane
7 Little Red Stars
8 High Street And The Universe
9 Swagger
10 Indians On The Moon