Whiskey Myers is a good old-fashioned rock & roll band, so it makes sense that their eponymous 2019 album would follow the time-honored blueprint for self-titled records. It is a statement of purpose, one that explains what the band is all about, so much so that the group decided to produce themselves this time around. They kick things off in high gear with "Die Rockin'," a title and song that could be seen as a manifesto for the Texas sextet. Whiskey Myers don't strictly rely on greasy rock & roll, but it's their stock in trade, and they come perilously close to getting high on their own supply, deciding that 2019 is the right time for a song as sleazy as "Bitch." This may be a bit of a slip, but the group gets by on sheer muscle, barreling through with heavy blues and grinding guitars, and catching their breath on open-highway tunes and backporch ballads that maintain their connection to country music. As a whole, the album runs a little long -- by the time things wind down with the gospel-fied "Bad Weather," its hour feels a bit like a double album -- but there's a certain swagger to its length, as if the group were proving that they can do everything underneath the Southern rock umbrella and do it well. They're right often enough to make their excesses and indulgences easy to forgive.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo