John Doe and the Sadies: Country Club

From the desk of Ned P. Rauch:

Back in April of this year, John Doe and the Sadies put out "Country Club," a twangy, reverbed-out record that's long on shuffle and swing but happily short on kitsch. A person can overdo the whole neo-noir-country thing, but these guys don't. They get it right—so much so that some promoter out there ought to get the bright idea to put this group on the same bill as Dwight Yoakam. That'd be a show worthy of its rhinestones.

"Country Club" has crisp boom-chukka rhythms, lightning-quick guitar and mandolin fills, and softly plangent moans from the pedal steel. Plenty of lovely harmonies from four women, including Veronica Jane Doe and Kathleen Edwards, whose album Failer wasn't nearly as good as I thought it would be given her voice and the people (like John Doe) who like her. Maybe she's getting better. She sounds great here.

The record's 15 cuts include a handful of originals, but most of the songs are covers. Among them: "Help Me Make it Through the Night," by Kris Kristofferson, "I Still Miss Someone," by Johnny Cash, and "Night Life," by Willie Nelson. About that last one: While there are plenty of knockout versions of "Night Life," (BB King's got three or four to his name), this is the only one that really sounds like it's being sung by a lonely guy wandering around at night. This take is outskirts-of-a-dusty-town, walking-along-the-road, beer-cans-in-the-culvert dark. And it works.