Album: The Lil' Band O' Gold, The Promised Land: A Swamp Pop Journey (Room 609)

The Louisiana swamp-pop scene is one of the most distinctive local tributaries into the great river of US popular music.

The Promised Land is the soundtrack to a documentary film about this subculture, showcasing the work of the Lil' Band O' Gold, a swamp-pop collective of under-appreciated talents like Warren Storm, C C Adcock, Dave Egan and Steve Riley, whose rumbustious accordion here drives songs by legends such as Allen Toussaint and Bobby Charles, as well as the band's own material. The best of these are "Spoonbread", on which they seem to magically channel the spirit (and vocal blend) of The Band; classic New Orleans rumba-rock grooves like "Dreamer" and "Ain't No Child No More"; and "Runaway's Life", a raw and gritty number akin to the Stones in country-raunch mode.

DOWNLOAD THIS Spoonbread; Dreamer; Runaway's Life;