Jeff McCord on the month’s new releases
Flatlanders
New West
Buy it at Amazon.com
Now is now again for the Flatlanders, the Lubbock troika that released a comeback album in 2002, thirty years after its members, Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock, first disbanded. Wheels of Fortune (New West) is a pleasing set but one that doesn't share its predecessor's collaborative jitters. Unlike Now Again, which was mostly co-written, there's scarcely a shared credit here. Still, Ely's "Neon of Nashville" and Hancock's wry "Eggs of Your Chickens" are worthy additions, and a pair of Gilmore-penned gems are nicely resuscitated. Hancock—whose voice seems to be growing richer with age— delivers a sublime "Deep Eddy Blues," while Ely completely inhabits "Midnight Train." Otherwise, it's a mixed bag.
Eisley
Reprise
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You couldn't make this up. Four bored homeschooled Tyler siblings, ages 15 to 21, recruit a family friend and form a band. First they perform for customers at their parents' coffee shop. Then they open for Coldplay at a sold-out Madison Square Garden. Lucky? Maybe, but Eisley is no teen flash in the pan. Their self-released debut EP was full of the sort of hook-laden, melodic rock that makes major labels salivate. One did. Marvelous Things (Reprise), their four-song follow-up (an album is due later this year), finds melancholy harmonies only sisters could create, gliding over heavy, yet never heavy-handed, rock backing. Charming without being cloying, Eisley remains all but impossible to resist.
Milton Mapes
Aspyr
Deep Ellum transplants Milton Mapes might call Austin home these days, but their full-length debut, Westernaire (Aspyr), roams the rugged Charles Starkweather High Plains. Think Neil Young and Crazy Horse in their heyday or the kind of reverent alt-country your favorite bands are way too self-conscious to play anymore. Songwriter Greg Vanderpool (who named the group after his grandfather) dredges raw emotion from a whisper, which the band builds to a roar with cinematic flair.
