Rode Hard and Put Away Wet.

From the weary sandpaper vocals on his major label debut, “Mescalito” you can tell Ryan Bingham has led a hard life…the thing is, he’s only 25 years old. On his own for over ten years, Bingham has drifted between small town Texas rodeos as he says, “driving all night to ride a bull who’ll knock your teeth out, then sleeping in back of your truck in a dusty arena.” Playing guitar in watering holes during breaks from the rodeo life, he developed a following for his hard edged, bare bones style of country music. This debut shows off a confident and fun loving story teller who’s had plenty of experience to draw from.

 This is a different kind of Americana than the smarminess found on country radio. It’s more comparable to the outlaw music of Waylon and Willie with a lot of Marshall Tucker or Allman Brothers for good measure. There are dirty slide guitars, blues riffs, and plenty of rock and roll courtesy of production from Marc Ford, a former Black Crowes guitarist. Whiskey soaked lyrics tell of roadhouses, living from day to day, traveling and more traveling.  He’s “hung with hippies in Austin and the cowboys in Mexico” as he sings on “Bread and Water” and his blue collar ramblings convince you that his cowboy hat is not part of a costume, but a lifestyle. You’ll practically see the dust from those West Texas ranches come shooting out of the cd when you shut the case. Since this is one of the best debuts of the year however, it might be awhile before you put it back in the case.  

Listen for songs all this week from Ryan Bingham’s album “Mescalito” on Paul Shugrue’s new music show, “Out of the Box”.  Monday through Thursday from 7pm to 9pm, Saturday from 1pm to 5pm and on-demand at www.whrv.org/outofthebox.  Get a free copy of the cd by making a donation to public radio this week