The Hooten Hallers
Self-Titled
(Big Muddy Records)
It’s been a long drought for fans of punk-inspired, roots rock. The genre is so niche that great albums only crop up from time to time and those band’s eventually peter out after an album or two.
But judging from the self-titled release from the Missouri-based trio The Hooten Hallers, the punk/roots rockers – or as they describe it, Hillbilly Soul band – may be here for a while.
The album is a solid mix of blues, country, punk rock and just enough horns to bring out the rockabilly. Not since Boston’s late great Kings of Nuthin’ has so much energy come from combining punk rock with brass instruments.
The band is at its best on big rockers like “Garlic Dream” and “Rhythm And Blues,” but when they wander too far from that sound the record ends up dragging a bit (like on melancholier fare “Gravity” and goofier numbers like the album closer, “I’m Staying Away From Joe”). But those moments are easily forgiven once the band kicks into some of their faster, Stray Cats-inspired numbers.
Ten years into, it seems The Hooten Hallers may be that rare band that has figured out how to keep the genre moving forward.
