It has indeed been a long strange trip for Luba Dvorak. This descendant of Antonin emigrated from Czechoslovakia as a child to Canada and now after a few stops including a stint at Steve Earl’s song camp, hangs hangs his hat in Brooklyn where he creates his great Bakersfield cum Tex-Mex sound. Along with a splendid band featuring luscious pedal steel guitar come clever lyrics such as “Well, cocaine and porn stars/Ain’t as fun as they sound,” when singing about LA life. Special mention to track #5 due to its subject (immigration) and its sublime use of acoustic instruments.

RIYL: Steve Earl, Dwight Yokum, Jose Guzman

**1 lovely toe-tapper with twangy pedal steel (fast, 3:28)
**2 clever lyrics on this lament about LA living (fast, 2:59)
***3 great channeling of Steve Earl in this tip of the hat to Hank, John & Waylon (medium, 2:32)
4 bittersweet ode to California living from one who’s stuck in Arizona (medium, 5:11)
***5 haunting tale of migrant family headed north accompanied with bone chilling hand hand tom-tom & squeeze box (slow, 3:10)
**6 sweet & dreamy ballad of love lost accented with Spanish guitar (slow, 2:39)
**7 beautiful love song to a hurricane/woman? (medium, 3:46)
*8 cowboy love song to his rodeo and his desert rose, makes you almost feel the bronc’s bucking under your posterior. (fast, 4:07)
*9 hard rocking tale of a white hot love that flamed out (fast, 3:05)
10 truly unique cover of a Tom Petty classic (3:37)

* Mr. Bones especially likes these