A North Carolina trio, Southern Culture on the Skids play a beguiling stew of retro sounds that might best be summed up as surfabilly. Ditch Diggin' evokes sounds and smells of the days before stereo stomped out mono; the fact that the album was recorded in Memphis, Tenn., seems entirely fitting.

Whether recounting tales of hillbilly love ("Put Your Teeth Up on the Window Sill") or a fly buzzing around the band's van ("The Fly That Rode From Buffalo"), leader Rick Miller employs a sly wit that infects his catchy tunes. He sings in a relaxed drawl, the twang in his voice playing off his reverb-drenched guitar work, which is indebted to Link Wray, Carl Perkins and Dick Dale. Bassist Mary Huff and drummer Dave Hartman add backing vocals and solid backup to a set of scarily accurate paeans to vintage rockabilly and surf music – they even do a decent stab at jump blues ("Chicken Shit Farmer" is a brash take on Louis Jordan's "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens").

Paying tribute to old styles can be tricky – there's always the risk that you'll be written off as a mere imitator – but Southern Culture tread the line between tribute and rip-off expertly. And the tunes are often damned funny: Huff's loopy soprano line in "Rumors of Surf" apes the old Star Trek theme; the fuzztoned instrumental "Mudbuggy" brings to mind Adam West doing the Batdance. The high point is a supersonic charge through the Louvin Brothers' "The Great Atomic Power," which starts with righteous nasal harmonies and ends with Miller urging the band to apocalyptic heights ("Let's take it home to Jesus!"). Inhabiting a world in which food, lovin' and dancin' are the primary concerns, Ditch Diggin' is good, greasy fun.

Ditch Diggin' is available from Safe House Records, (802) 295-1269. (RS 684)

GEOFFREY WELCHMAN