Acousti-soul pop folk, quirky male vox. Has off-key indie elements of the Mountain Goats, Maps & Atlases, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. There's something vaguely Cat Stevens about the vox (you'll hear it if you hear it, believe me), and then half these songs could have scored Rent (also the vox, for different reasons). But, you know, the Country Bears. Speaking of the vox, let's just say it: What a diva.

try: 8, 1, 5, 3
no FCCs

*1. swaying held 'la's over joyous harmonica and feel-good strumming. sounds like maps & atlases. "fall in love with anyone", etc.
2. midtempo twang pop. piano and shakers. "every light turns green as i roll down her street." classicky 'big chord' moves at the end of the chorus. see: james taylor.
*3. "1 2 3 uh uh"? tight slapped acoustic guitar, upbeat sunny camp jam. confident major melody. soul vamp and handclaps.
4. suuuper laid back melancholy jammer. harmonica + shakers. river boat laze. spare banjo and strong sing-song vox. long outro, false ending.
*5. ooh! dark country/western wringer. female vox. rattlesnakey, mournful. actually effectively vamps "put all my money on you."
6. piano and shakers and huge broadway vox. slow claps and draggy "life on mars" beat. this whole song reminds me of "life on mars", actually.
7. female vox. spare guitar and harmonica. laid back, slowish, boom/bust tempo. very chill country. vey, uh, dolly parton.
*8. holy crap. banjo knocks, cool spare funk riffs, sax. aah! hella male wail vox. some sky-high flourishes. freddie mercury and prince are making 'the fuck' faces at each other. this is oh so over the top. alan loves this already.
9. drumless, vox-centric banjo/harmonica/handclap jam. relaxed, slowish beat. this song's most salient feature is that it name-drops agatha christie.
10. slow and somewhat uninspired serenade to a bad girl. i think the lyrics are supposed to be provocative, but they're just confusingly dumb.
11. cool cassette effects, just saddish vox and light beat-boxing and long-chord piano. acoustic guitar and handclaps in the last minute. really nice.
12. slow, simple. fingerpicked acoustic + layered longing harmonies. 'edelweiss' goes country, basically.