Firewater

On their sophomore album, Whiskey Myers wrap themselves in the Stars and Bars as they serve up unadulterated Southern rock with gusto. The Texas-bred quintet recalls the ‘70s heyday of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, and other guitar-centric Dixie combos. Six-string ferocity and an ornery vocal attitude give tunes like “Bar, Guitar and a Honky Tonk Crowd,” “Turn It Up," and “Strange Dreams” the bite of a junkyard Rottweiler jacked up on Jim Beam. The band shows off its blues-boogie instincts on the hard-slamming “Different Mold” and embrace acoustic country on the quietly searing “Song for You.” Lead singer Cody Cannon reins in his throat-shredding tendencies to deliver “Virginia” with surprising tenderness and lend “Broken Window Serenade” an almost Dylanesque folk quality. If the album has a centerpiece, it’s “Ballad of a Southern Man,” a heartfelt expression of down-home pride that’s comparable to Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” in its mix of nostalgia and defiance. Producer Leroy Powell keeps the tracks sounding radio-ready without sanding down the band’s pugnacious edge.