Texas Platters

The Lifters

Texa$ Tra$h (Killingbird)

Combining the sneering no-futurism of Social Distortion with the balls-out Southern rock affectations of Black Oak Arkansas ain't blazing new trails, but Austin's Lifters manage to make the formula come alive in all its skyward-fisted glory. The quartet pays homage to classic country with a cowpunk cover of Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried," but they head straight for the garage to celebrate the alluringly dangerous mythos of Roller Derby culture on "Roller Queen."