Sweet As The Grain

This Canadian country-rock quintet has a self-consciously raw, whiskey-soaked sound that simultaneously evokes the Band, Reckless Kelly, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, and that hops easily from honky tonk ("No More Rock'n'Roll") to psychedelic folk-rock ("Padawadamie") to weeper balladry ("Truth Be Told (Inez)") without any apparent effort. At times — as on the very fine "New Years," the band manages to nod its collective head to the Clash and Bob Dylan simultaneously, which is a pretty impressive feat by any measure. But at other times, certain aspects of their sound seem to border on parody: singer Rey Sabatin's exaggeratedly hokey accent on "Eldorado," for example, or the ironically repentant "Ain't Gonna Drink No More." There are also some musical experiments that fall a bit flat, such as the wanky wah-wah guitar and off-kilter chanted vocals on "Padawadamie," and the attempted 1960s-style raveup "Golden Train" that never quite takes off. At their best, though, the John Henrys' sound is a sharp and jagged country-rock gem — those elements all come together most perfectly on the excellent "Angel."