Whiskey Angel

Several other Tennessee-based outfits with a prominent female voice — Lady Antebellum and the Civil Wars — got more mainstream attention into the early 2010s than this multi-faceted roots rock/Americana/bluegrass outfit, but the Black Lillies enjoyed a variety of indie accolades after the release of their sometimes edgy, frequently raucous, and often heartfelt debut. Led by singer Cruz Contreras (formerly of Robinella & the CC String Band), who wrote the very personal material on Whiskey Angel after his divorce and prior band's breakup, the group have been ranked "Best Americana Band" in the Metro Pulse Best of Knoxville every year since they debuted. While they continued to make inroads in the country community, Whiskey Angel was nominated for the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards in the Americana Album category. The collection also won the IMA Vox Pop Award. These successes in diverse but related genres speak to the eclectic musical settings Contreras sets his haunting and longing words to. One minute, it's the plucky, jangling vibe of the title track, the next an intimate guitar- and vocal-driven ballad ("See Right Through"), and then the loping, lighthearted "Midnight" (whose happy music belies the sorrow of spending "midnight under the railroad track"). "The Distance" fuses all three of these feelings, melancholy and dreamy, twanging wistfulness rolled into one. Looking back from a place of sorrow, the raucous rock/blues guitars driving "There's Only One" underscore the freewheeling thinking of youthful innocence. This Whiskey has a few raspy spots, but it mostly goes down smooth and fascinating.