As a follow-up to 'Fly Me Courageous' (1990), Smoke makes sense – you know, as a sellout. Yet there's still something disheartening in all of the energy with which Drivinn-Cryin infuses such cliché-driven rock & roll. For the first time, the raspy-voiced, sweet and sincere Kevn Kinney sings about all of these women "who have cool moves," "who have whiskey souls," et cetera, et cetera,...

If your attention span is put to the test when you listen to an entire album by one artist or band, then give Mystery Road a try. From the countrified opener, "Ain't It Strange," through the folk-intoned "With the People," to the straight-out rocker "Syllables," drivin' n' cryin's third album displays a range that will have you checking the liner notes to make sure it's the same band.

Kevn...

Credit Kevn Kinney's wonderfully downcast 1990 solo album, MacDougal Blues, for a sizable portion of the growth he and his band display on Fly Me Courageous, their fourth and most consistently provocative work. Prior to Kinney's outing, Drivin' n' Cryin' played taut bar-band music with arty pretensions hanging from every syllable. The band clearly understood rock & roll throb but demanded...

Crunching hard rock is the drivin' part, brittle countryish balladry the cryin', with the two linked by a heavy dose of Led Zeppelinphilia. If Paul Westerberg had grown up worshiping Angus Young instead of Alex Chilton, the Replacements might sound something like this youthful Atlanta trio. On the 1986 indie debut of Drivin' n' Cryin', Scarred but Smarter, the eclecticism made for an enthralling...