David Brake & That Damn Band, Lean, Mean Texas Machine

There’s a lot to be proud of on David Brake & That Damn Band’s Lean, Mean Texas Machine (most notably, “101 Tattoos”). But listen to songs like the title track (“Pick your jaw up off the floor / You’d think you never seen a woman before / Now put your tongue back in your mouth / Sometime we grow ’em that way here in the South”), and the sense that Brake’s shooting for new country instead of the more classic stuff is almost too much to bear.

Except for the above-referenced lyrics, Brake is a talented songwriter — his stories are catchy and play out well in song. “Even Five To Closing Time (What Do I Do Now)” is a great opener, a typical barroom hit (“It’s closing time and I ain’t done / What do I do now?”), and the youthful but well-intentioned “Cowpunks, Angels, And Architects” is as original as they come (“I’m a cowpunk / Looking for an angel in this town”). Hopefully, on his next effort Brake and company will shy away from the popular country that raids the airwaves today and stick more to their roots. Until that time, country fans could do far worse than Lean, Mean Texas Machine.