Bat Kinane & The Whole Hog Band
Album: Ordinary Days
Label: Voodoo Bones
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.thewholehogband.com/

"Ordinary Days" sees former Glyder musician, Bat Kinane, continue his migration away from rock and towards the Americana roots country and sound and it seems like a journey both him and the band and us are going to enjoy.

It was a direction that started with his solo debut, "A Life Time To Kill" and seems to be continuing a pace. Having become a family band, Kinane put together The Whole Hog Band with a group of fellow musicians to play a few covers, keep the bills away from the door and have a good time. A number of gigs and parties later, there was feeling that it was spiralling.

May last year saw the band release a single, "Fiddle In The Band" to raise money for a children's hospital and from there the idea was sown for doing the album, "Ordinary Days" that I'm listening to as I type this.

The album draws in two threads, the sounds that have seen the band appearing at weddings, parties, everything and Bat's songwriting, in fact there's only one cover on the album, "Let's Go Dancin'", but the whole really does give the impression of a night out in a honky tonk, sans chicken wire cage.

The result is an album that captures that rockabilly/hillbilly/country crossover sound and really entertains from start to finish. This is not an album that's going to put a strain on the old gray matter, it is one that's going to get the synapses firing and a whole load of rewards hitting those pleasure centres.

Neil King