I'd always hoped a band would come along that I could describe as a cross between Graham Parker and Gram Parsons. Folks, that band has arrived. There seems to be quite the furor out there on the internet about what kind of music the Old 97's should be considered. Are they Alt/Country? No they're Young Country. No they're not, they're Insurgent Country. What a bunch of twerps--I've got a little name for this kind of music--I call it Rock and Roll. If The Replacements would have started out in Austin, they would have been the Old 97's. The songs on this rockin' gem are so plainly cool that you just wanna get up and dance and sing along.

On tracks like "Rollerskate Skinny" you can hear traces of Wilco, but more than anything they sound like Cracker, and Cracker, used to be Camper Van Beethoven--one of the greatest country western bands of all time. Whatever you call it, it's extremely likable music that will make you very happy.