Range Rats

If you've seen the Dead Moon documentary, you might remember that tale of Fred and Toody on the road playing country songs in odd locations- middle-age walkabout,  Cole style.  Well, the record from that time (before Fred remembered he was born to rock) got buried,  but the good folks at Mississippi have dug it up and put it out. Range Rats is better than I expected, as I'd seen a few pics of Fred with a cowboy hat and they zinged high on the cringe meter. The sound here is actually much better than on a Dead Moon record, as perhaps they still had commerical dreams. There's nothing here that's going to make you sit straight up and scream, "For the love of Gram Parsons!" but it's a pleasant aural stroll along that Oregon trail.  They don't overdo the countryisms in the vocals, the tunes have big melodies and their harmonizing is rather pretty.  I'm gonna chalk this in the pleasant surprise category and see if I can cancel that drunken Internet order from last night. Don't let friends surf drunk, especially with a credit card.