Dimestore Troubadours: Ordinary Hearts – CD Review

Ever been to a gypsy party in New Orleans, had one too many flaming cocktails and wound up in the drunk tank arrested by alligators? Neither have I, but the latest release from the Dimestore Troubadours paints a pretty clear picture of what that might sound like. These guys play music with the gusto of a gang roving through the city, kicking over trash cans in search of blood and whiskey.

Everything about this album from a couple of former Baton Rougeans is supremely vaudeville, right down to the packaging: a faded yellow sleeve with a photo reel image of the band that opens to reveal a disc design an inch or two shy of being an old 7-inch record label. The album opener, a nasty little tune called “Sweet Lorrain,” takes listeners down to the Marigny for a night of debauchery and never-ending cigarettes atop an old piano. The rest is a stockpile of similar stories laden with accordion grooves, washboards, dirty guitars and a swooning horn section. It’s a lot like New Orleans—nice to visit, then escape from at daybreak. myspace.com/dimestoretroubadours

Essential Tracks: “Sweet Lorrain,” “Car Bombs”

Recommended if you like: Big John Bates, Joel Kaiser and the Devils Own, Frenchmen Street