This quintet’s name always takes me back to 1979 and a friend’s house out by the airport. His single-parent dad was often on the road, meaning plenty of parties. Those nights would inevitably end with a bunch of guys deeply under the influence of $1.29 six-packs of Genny White Death pretending to be Burt Reynolds in Hooper. The main prop was a sofa that came to be known as the stunt couch, and the combination of beer and dramatic tumbles left us dazed and confused.
Guess it’s fitting that the latest disc from the Drunk Stuntmen can leave you a little disoriented. For starters, three of the first four cuts abruptly change tempo mid-song, and throughout there are more Brian May-like guitar solos and prog-rock-keyboard echoes than one would expect from a band with a rockabilly/country-rock reputation and moniker. Roots rock, in fact, doesn’t show up until song five, the Go To Blazes-ish “Silver City.
Other dizzying curves come in the form of “Still My Baby” and “Find You”, a winning pair that can only be described as power ballads Stuntmen-style, and the title track, a winding yet winsome instrumental. Then there’s the comical incongruity between the affection and wistfulness found in some of the words (most notably on “Halcyon Days”, a co-highlight along with the expert pop-rocker “Underground”) and this sentiment from the twangy romp “Buy Your Love”: “I give you all my money, all my drugs/And 100 dollar bills instead of kisses and hugs.”
All told, it’s an entertaining 45-minute walk down the mind’s midway, equal parts intriguing and perplexing. You also get the feeling the songs would be even more entertaining when presented live and rowdier — ideally with a couple beers under your belt and the threat of a concussion.
