The Coffis Brothers & The Mountain Men
Album: Wrong Side Of The Road
Label: Sally Sasquatch Music
Tracks: 13
Website: http://www.coffisbrothers.com/

Fronted by siblings Jamie (vocals/keyboards) and Kellen (guitar) Coffis with Kyle Poppen (guitar), Mason Hutchinson (bass) and Henry Chadwick (drums) providing support, the Santa Cruz five piece are firmly rooted in country-shaded 80s rock tempered with more than a hint of the late 60s, shaking up a cocktail as likely to throw up references to Black Crowes and Neil Young as Tom Petty and, especially on the Lennon-esque bluesy intro to I'm Gonna Find You, the Beatles.

Tracks like Trouble Town, The Hardest Thing, the theramin-featuring I'd Do Anything and the peaceful easy feeling of Runaways are music for warm nights driving some long highway with the windows down, while those looking for the blues rock party at the end of the road will be looking to crank up the volume and sweat for the lurching, harp-wailing grind of Big Time, the Creedence groove of Wrong Side of the Road and blues organ riffing stoned jam Give It To Me.

Elsewhere the reflective, acoustic fingering Love Of Mine, Tammi Brown acoustic duet Before And After with its funeral march beat and, deceptively starting as if it's going to turn into a Stonesy swagger before becoming a sort of ballad cross between Aerosmith and the Eagles, I Ain't Leavin' all show they can handle the slower, softer material with equal finesse. Definitely worth crossing your central reservations for.

Mike Davies