Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys

Rex Hobart is taking back country. Fed up with the new-country attitude and flavour, this Buffalo-based songwriter is side stepping his contemporary counterparts in favour of some straight-up honky-tonk sanctity. Empty House balances wistful country twang with emotional hardship — the true recipe of country. Purveyors of the two-step, these musicians offer the standard fare of bass, drums and guitar along with the country staples of pedal steel, banjo and harmonica, using the latter with discretion. The music achieves a western-textured theme, as the classic honky-tonk styling and instrumentation supply the groundwork for Rex's writing. The songster captures the glory of downfalls, unrequited love and despair. All in all, the music is a refreshing break from the everyday, with eleven tracks of achy-breaky straightforward plaintive stories that intend to obliterate urban cowboys everywhere.