Rex Hobart & The Misery Boys
The Spectacular Sadness Of Rex Hobart & The Misery Boys (Bloodshot)
Being Kansas City’s kings of honky-tonk isn’t such a bad thing, but how many other bands can you name from there anyway? The Spectacular Sadness Of … is chock-full of Bakersfield-style country, performed with a reverence for that tradition and some pithy wordplay to keep it interesting. Songs like “I’m Not Drunk Enough,” “Forever Always Ends,” and “‘Til My Teardrops Turn To Gold” show a command of the form many aspire to, but few achieve. It’s laid out pure and simple, with Hobart’s smoky tenor catching every tear of the forlorn Misery Boys, led by the rumbling guitar of J.B. Morris and Solomon Hofer’s masterful pedal steel work, twanging it up in all the right places. “Barstow Barstool” is a prime example of the way that they can tell a story of heartbreak, one that’s been told before, yet made fresh with shimmering steel runs that amplify the sadness and make it all the more real. “Let’s Keep Lying Here” is a soulful country rocker built around a clever twist of phrase that does Buck Owens proud. If these boys were from Texas, they would probably be considered just another band hoeing an already fertile field. In fact, their brand of languid country is as close to the real thing as it comes these days, and The Spectacular Sadness Of … sounds right on, no matter where they come from.
(Rex Hobart & the Misery Boys play Emo’s Thursday, Nov. 2.)
This article appears in Rick Perry.