Crashyertown

Cut from the same cloth as icons like Steve Earle, Bruce Springsteen, Lucinda Williams, and Kasey Chambers, Seattle's Believers are steered by the duo of Craig Aspen and Cynthia Frazzini. Their sophomore album, Crashyertown is a great mixture of roadside rock & roll and heartland country helped by an array of talents, including pedal steel man Dan Tyack of Asleep at the Wheel fame, producer/organist/drummer Steve Adamek, and bassist Garey Shelton, plus Ranch Romance's Nova Devonie on accordion and the infamous Bad Livers frontman Danny Barnes on banjo. Launched by the full-bodied, Americana-laced rocker "Railroad Spikes & Shotgun Shells," the disc holds some of the richest arrangements the alternative country genre's seen in a dawn's age. Songs like the winning title track — emotively conveyed by Aspen — and a cover of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" assert that notion, but even when they tone it down a bit — like with the subdued "That's Alright" — these tunes never lose hold of their harmony laden strengths. When Frazzini takes lead, as she does about one-third of the time, it's clear she is well schooled in the classics (think Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, and the aforementioned) as evidenced by weepers like "Get Started" and the shimmering, heart-wrenching "Long Way to Heaven." Regardless of who's out in front, the Believers rarely falter on these 11 songs. ~ John D. Luerssen, Rovi