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I don’t go much for country-rock, especially when it’s outfitted in the all-hat-no-cattle trappings of modern Nashville. But when it’s an authentic distillation of the best of the two genres, I can dig it.<\/p>\nI don’t go much for country-rock, especially when it’s outfitted in the all-hat-no-cattle trappings of modern Nashville. But when it’s an authentic distillation of the best of the two genres, I can dig it.<\/p>\n
And I can dig the V-Roys<\/strong>. Sure, I missed them on their original go-round, in the late 90s when they released a pair of studio albums (Just Add Ice<\/em> in 1996 and All About Town<\/em> three years later) and a 2000 live album. I wasn’t the only one who missed them, but plenty of people did notice them, and while comparing their under-the-radar, slow-burn influence to that of, say, Big Star<\/strong> might be overstating things a bit (too early to tell, really), plenty of alt-country acts seem to be mining the vein the V-Roys started.<\/p>\n A new compilation sets out to place their music in some historical context, and conveniently make it available to a wider universe of potential listeners. What might have been a tad ahead of its time fifteen years ago now sounds fresh and timeless at the same time. Sooner or Later<\/em> is a fitting title for this music. The eighteen-track CD surveys both of the studio releases, dropping the lesser tracks and folding in unreleased covers and originals.<\/p>\n To be sure, this isn’t straight-ahead rock through and through: the \u00be twang of \u201cPounding Heart\u201d has much more in common with classic country than classic rock, but the lead guitar lick has just a bit of distortion, suffusing it with rock ‘tude. And the song \u201cSooner or Later\u201d \u2013 vaguely reminiscent of a well-known song from Blues Traveler<\/strong> \u2013 will resonate with anyone who ever enjoyed Gin Blossoms<\/strong> (or the better efforts of John Mellencamp<\/strong>). Like all of the tracks on the set, it has a deeply authentic\/no-bullshit vibe. \u201cGoodnight Loser\u201d suggests what the Eagles<\/strong> might have sounded like if they weren’t (\u201creportedly,\u201d suggests our legal department) such a bunch of douchebags.<\/p>\n \u201cLie I Believe\u201d sticks to that intimate feel; it’s sort of a cross between a campfire ballad and a rock tune; very effective. And a cover of Neil Young<\/strong>‘s Buffalo Springfield<\/strong>-era classic \u201cBurned\u201d is effective, building the arrangement around a stomping drum figure and dropping the original’s rickety, out-of-tune saloon piano.<\/p>\n The songs from All About Town<\/em> display a bit more polish and ambition in terms of arrangement; \u201cAmy 88\u201d benefits from the treatment, with honking horns, reverbed guitar lead and handclaps. But the track is over too soon! \u201cOver the Mountain\u201d applies alt-country style to a melody straight outta Dublin, and it works.<\/p>\n The previously-unreleased tracks \u2013 and there are five of ’em here \u2013 are every bit as fully formed (songwise) and finished (production-wise) as the reissued cuts. An understated cover of Tom T. Hall<\/strong>‘s \u201cHow I Got to Memphis\u201d is reminiscent of a cross between Foster & Lloyd<\/strong> and Old 97s<\/strong>; how could that not be good? The vibe of \u201cHotel Room,\u201d on the other hand, crosses twangy alt-country with The Replacements<\/strong>. The loosest track on <\/span>Sooner or Later<\/span><\/em> is a reading of the <\/span>Leiber-Stoller<\/strong> chestnut \u201cSmokey Joe’s Cafe.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n The set closes with an irreverent cut from the group’s debut, \u201cCold Beer Hello.\u201d The goofy sing-along is note-perfect for C&W fans, with its wry refrain. But its rough edges \u2013 including an intentionally (and painfully so) off-key guitar solo, speaker buzz, fret scrapes and the actual sound of twelve-ouncers being opened \u2013 would have kept this one off the radio. It’s essential despite those elements. Or maybe, in part, because of them. The bad news is, of course, that The V-Roys packed it in at the close of the 20th<\/sup> century. The good news is that Sooner or Later<\/em> documents a brief career that showed a great deal of promise. You probably missed The V-Roys when they were together. Time to remedy that oversight.<\/p>\n
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