Sleepercar - West Texas (2008)

Sleepercar is a folk-influenced pop/rock group led by Jim Ward (from At the Drive-In and Sparta). His voice has always been his most noteworthy trait, and it lends itself quite well to this type of music. There's a lot of anguish in it, and although his other projects required a lot of screaming and howling, it always conveyed a lot of emotion. Some songs come from a more pop/rock place, such as "Wasting My Time" and "Kings & Compromises." The bulk of this borrows from more rural genres, with steel guitar and gentle acoustic guitars throughout. Some songs embody that rustic feel especially well ("Heavy Weights"). According to wikipedia, this was influenced by Wilco, Ryan Adams, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan. That sounds about right. LISTEN

TRACKLIST

1. A Broken Promise (2:58)
2. Wasting My Time (2:57)
3. Fences Down (3:53)
4. Wednesday Nights (4:04)
5. Kings and Compromises (4:52)
6. Heavy Weights (4:42)
7. Sound the Alarm (4:19)
8. End of a Year (3:36)
9. You Should Run (4:20)
10. All Will End Well (1:22)
11. Stumble In (2:57)