Today’s bro country thrives on images of John Deere tractors and perilously short Daisy Dukes, but its stomp-clap beats and prefab licks listen more like a city kid’s wild weekend on a ranch. Local swampy-tonk duo Mayeux & Broussard have a different take on bro-dom. “This one’s for my boys back at home,” Broussard intones in “Back Home” on the pair’s sophomore effort, High Times & Good Rhymes. Home, in this case, is Port Arthur, and judging from the road-trip guitar licks on songs such as “Stoned and Broke Down,” country outlaw Willie Nelson could’ve easily been one of those boys in question. Barroom ballad “A Long Time Since You” begins with acoustic picking, but with subsequent whiskey shots the honky-tonk trills layer on drunken indulgence. Still, as evidenced in “Can’t Fall off the Floor,” Mayeux & Broussard might sing it loosely, but the fiddle whines and Louisiana-tinged guitar are solid as a rock. Bros, take note.
This article appears in November 20 • 2015.