Holly Grove

Hailing from Atlanta, The Whisky Gentry serve up a feisty combo of bluegrass, honky tonk, and mainstream country with plenty of instrumental flash and cheeky attitude. The tunes on the septet’s sophomore album, Holly Grove, alternate between the rollicking and the mournful, reveling in Deep South sounds and imagery. Singer Lauren Staley spikes her honeyed vocal tones with enough grit to make the band’s lyrics convincing. She dives into galloping numbers like “Colly Davis” and the Butch Walker duet “One Night in New York” with plenty of gumption, then turns around and brings a high ‘n’ lonesome pathos to ballads like “Oh Me” and the title tune. Nashville-style fare like “Dixie” finds contrast in more unusual offerings, like the visionary “Particles.” “Here’s Your Song” has the bite of classic Loretta Lynn, while “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy” invokes West Coast country-rock’s heyday. There’s plenty of tasty soloing amid these musical tales of drinking, heartache, and homicide, with Jason Morrow’s chicken-picking guitar, Rurik Nunan’s dancing fiddle work, and Chesley Lowe’s greased-lightning mandolin making particular impressions.