Bottle Rockets

This tribute to the late Doug Sahm isn't so much an acknowledgement of the Rockets' own debt to Sahm's unique acid rock/country blend as it is a note to remind people that Sahm probably did as much to bring the hippy/outlaw cultures together as anyone. He was the link between Gram Parsons and Willie Nelson, yet the Rockets make him sound more like the link between Roky Erickson and Jerry Garcia, which seems more fitting. Aside from a run through of Sahm's first success - the garage rock staple "She's About A Mover" - the selections delve more into the dichotomy and rich stew that was Sahm's early '70s work, best heard in its original form on his classic Groover's Paradise. Yet I'm sure it was Rockets leader Brian Henneman's wry sense of humour that became attached to such nuggets of truth as "Stoned Faces Don't Lie" and "You Can't Hide A Redneck (Under That Hippy Hair)." Elsewhere, the band's tough, classic ZZ Top-ish approach rules the day. If it had been released in 1976, Songs Of Sahm would have been the album of the summer. That shouldn't prevent it from being the album of the summer of 2002 as well.