New to me, maybe not to you (part II) – The Gougers

I will admit to sometimes being behind the times when it comes to bands that are right here in my home state.  In those cases, I am simply glad that I am catching up and gettin’ with the program, because I indeed did have some catching up to do.  Again, I find myself getting acquainted with a promising young band after many of my fellow Texas-music lovers have already been keen on them for a while now.

The Gougers are a four-piece group that feature both male and female vocals on lead.  Their sound covers everything from Alt-Country, Old Timey Gospel Vibes, to Folk.  Thanks to a few of my favorite outlets of info, I found out that I could grab their latest CD, A Long Day for the Weathervane, for free from their website.  I found that to be quite the bargain and I have thoroughly enjoyed the disc since downloading it.  The highlights for me thus far are “Rosaline”, “Everybody knows” and “John Henry”.  Great tunes, great variety and great writing flavor this disc. 

This band and this new album are great examples of why I get so angry at ignorant meat-heads who claim that “Texas Country” begins and ends with George’s Bar, Live Diner #2 (even though I do like these albums), or even worse, Eli Young Band (who I am not fond of actually).  Weathervane, at no point, offers a chugging base-line, lyrics about a small town Friday night football game, or a slick, paint-by-numbers approach to storytelling that plagues the most recent releases from EYB, No Justice and many of today’s “up and coming” Texas bands that continue to lean more and more towards the oily polish of the Music-City in which they claim to be rebelling against.  I really like The Gougers.  I like a band that actually portrays the unpredictable and unique traits of this indigenous sound that is slowly evaporating from the scene that still claims to thrive upon it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17FdE25ogR4]