Middle of Everywhere Continental Song City***

Pokey Lafarge looks like he's stepped off the set of Bonnie and Clydeon the cover of this interesting collection. The music, described as "riverboat soul and swagger with an early jazz/hillbilly sound", has that same vintage Americana vibe. It's as if the door opened on a speakeasy in downtownSt Louis, the town in the "middle of everywhere" from which this quartet hails.

The songs are Pokey's own, soaked in period style, with washboard, upright bass and guitar driving the rhythm embellished by harmonica and some tasteful guitar fills. They know their stuff. Pokey's voice is a little reedy, but there's strong vocal backup and good interplay on Feel So Good, Coffee Pot Bluesand Weedwacker Rag. Worth checking out, and you can do so in person when Pokey and the boys plays the Obangi Stomp Club in Dublin's Odessa Bar this Sunday evening. See pokeylafarge.net

Download tracks: Weedwacker Rag, Feel So Good