Hopeless Love Affair

Album Review

Listening to the opening track, you can instantly picture the standup bass, slicked-back hair, and '50s attire. Gas Money is steeped in traditional Sun Records rock & roll, the style of Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, especially on the band's cover of Perkins' "That's Alright." Some of the songs are originals, but the group takes pride in covering everyone from Ray Price to Whiskeytown on "Too Drunk to Dream," which moves between a rollicking guitar riff and a surf guitar twang during a memorable closing. "El Camino Blues," dedicated to the group's late bass player Chris Reloader, is a mid-tempo saga similar to Gram Parsons country. A rockabilly factor is also quite evident from song to song, with the results mixed from the highs of "Juke Box" to less notable lows. When the band chooses a slower, blues-oriented root, the songs suffer somewhat in their arrangements and lack of spontaneity, particularly the title track. The only track that could be considered below par is "Happy Go Lucky Truck Driver," sounding a bit too rigid for its own good. But on the whole, the band represents the genre more than adequately, which should make for some interesting future projects.