Whiskey Wolves of the West - Country Roots (2018) Hi-Res

“From Mississippi to Alabama, from New York to California, from West Virginia down to Macon, Georgia, sooner or later everybody gonna come around,” sings Whiskey Wolves of the West. Listeners will indeed come around to the band’s debut album Country Roots. Tim Jones and Leroy Powell combine their songwriting and musical talents to create a Nashville-based sound filled with satisfying twangy vocals, tinny strings, and real-life lyrics. Positioning themselves between the country and Americana genres, Country Roots will elate purists while attracting listeners more experienced with alt-country groups. Unburdened by overproduction and commercialism, Country Roots brings listeners back to the piquant sounds of the honky tonks from the 1950s and ’60s while fully embracing laid-back country roots.

Country Roots is a concise project featuring just seven tracks and lasting about 28 minutes. But don’t let the album’s short length fool you into thinking Whiskey Wolves of the West lack fortitude. The album’s duration is clearly an homage to classic country artists who focused their efforts, and their audiences’ ears, on fewer tracks. For example Johnny Cash’s Walk the Line and Waylon Jennings Ramblin’ Man both amount to about 30 minutes. Much as artists before them, Jones and Powell channel their energies into fully developing songs’ narratives and music. The track “Alexandria”, for example, takes listeners into a romantic history shaped by regret. For instance, the lyrics for “This Song Ain’t Gonna Write Itself” are so robust that the song will at once break your heart while getting you up to dance.