The Show Ponies
Album: We're Not Lost
Label: Self-Released
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.theshowponies.com

Currently regarded as one of the hottest properties on the roots scene of the US West Coast, the energetic young five-piece The Show Ponies have just released their sophomore album, funded entirely by crowdsourcing from their enthusiastic fanbase. Plunging straight in with a breakneck banjo-driven headlong dash through some slightly dodgy rhymes on Baby I'm In Love With You may not be the most endearing opening move, but the gritty, stonking, stomping chain-gang old-time of Gone redeems things immediately thereafter on the way to the distinctly Poguesy charge of the album's title number, the full version of whose title cleverly reads "We're not lost, we just don't know where to go". That might be taken almost too literally, as the disc's eleven tracks find the band moving effortlessly through a cornucopia of old-time-cum-bluegrass stylings.

Track four is a cheeky slice of western-swing-styled fun, the tongues-firmly-in-cheeks man-and-gal duet Whiskey And Wine stepping straight off the dance-hall stage and tight as hell, then in complete contrast comes If I Die Tomorrow, which could've come from an Alison Krauss collection, with the kind of responsive instrumental fills to match, and the appealingly backporch-gospel-tinged The River delivers another memorable moment and forms a crucial staging post along the journey to its final resting-place at the tender I Regress, which builds to a dramatic climax at its repeated chorus. A couple of the album's later tracks maybe don't make quite the same kind of impact as the first half of the album, but even so there's no significantly weak link in the chain and the band works together eagerly and committedly to reach each individual song's destination by whatever means seems appropriate.

The lineup's led by Texans Andi Carder and Clayton Chaney, who together form the foundation of the band's songwriting team; they're joined by ace fiddler Philip Glenn, banjoist/guitarist Jason Harris (who'd produced their debut album) and skilled percussionist Kevin Brown. The already full sound is augmented just a touch on occasion by guests playing cello and double bass. The band's prime trademark may seem to be their really high energy level, but they can do sensitive too, as the regretful sharing duet Pieces Of My Past proves, and whatever the pace or mood there's always an on-the-edge quality to their playing and singing. For these guys sure ain't just one-trick ponies, and they're determined to prove that to us all.

David Kidman