Despite much moaning and groaning to the contrary, it is actually a pretty good time for rock and roll. It is a rich genre that still embraces its indie spirit and cherishes both its diversity and unique sound. Lately, a number of rock and roll bands have been turning their hands to music that is more country inspired. Certainly, it is nothing new to have country music mixed with rock, or even country music blended with Grunge. Ha Ha Tonka is a bit different. For starters, the country they pull their influences from is the more polished edges of bluegrass, closer to Bill Monroe and Rickey Skaggs than OCMS or Irish Mountain Ballads. The Grunge in their sound is more akin to Pearl Jams supple melodies and Eddie Vedder's rich vocals than Nirvana's crashing guitars and Cobain's mumbled rasp. They blend in Southern Rock, but that Southern Rock is the contemporary version made popular by such bands as The Drive By Truckers. Since singing with Bloodshot in 2007, the band has been releasing music provides a dark and gritty soundtrack to the tribulations of the working class. Their latest, Death of a Decade, looks back over the past ten years with a mix of poetry and candor.

The album opens with “The Usual Suspects,” a high octane track that is lead by Brett Anderson's mandolin. The track is a scalding look at the men in the life of a wounded and wounding woman. “Westward Bound” finds the band longing for the freedom in simply leaving and recreating your life somewhere else. “I realize that youth is wasted on the young, and I know that I have wasted more than some,” Anderson confesses, “but I know now that my wasted days are done.” “Made Example Of” is a bit slicker than its predecessors, a bit more polished. The pop sheen offers cheery contrast to lyrics like “I wasn't listening so I was made example of.” “Jesuita” brings the band as close to Nirvana territory as they get, all whispered, droning harmonies before it opens up into a racing hybrid of bluegrass and metal. Its contrasts like these that earn the band their own place along side such contemporary legends as The Drive By Truckers and Marah. “We can blame it on the circumstances, but at least we took the chances we had to,” Anderson mourns on the lovely “Lonely Fortunes.” The desperate, fatalistic lyrics find a perfect compliment in the twinges of Mandolin and almost gong-like percussion. “Hide It Well” features a pretty and simple, country inflected melody, softer and supple vocals from Anderson and positively shimmering harmonies. “Nobody wants to act like they care too much,” he muses, “so you hide it well.” Anderson's vocal surprises keep on coming when, on “Dead Man's Hand” he showcases a falsetto that would make Thom Yorke jealous. The sweet vocals, high harmonies and lazy guitar melodies give the song a crumpled, gritty Simon and Garfunkel vibe that is at once powerful and soothing. The band picks up the pace, and Anderson brings back his garage rock voice for “Problem Solver.” The track is a solid, straightforward slice of American rock and roll, but surrounded by the stellar songs on this album, it comes off just a bit flat. The title track starts with a cool reverb that serves to both pay homage to the roots of grunge and to mock the ways in which those roots have been ground into the dirt in this new millennium. “Here was the death of a decade,” Anderson laments, “I was just about to change.” “No Great Harm” pairs nearly Native American styled drums with droning guitars and finger-plucked mandolin to create a sound that calls back to nearly every ancient form of music. The album closes with “The Humorist,” a sardonic and swaggering rock ballad. “They used to call me the humorist, of all people to call that,” Anderson comments wryly, “I never thought I was all that funny.”

Ha Ha Tonka is certainly not the first band to mix country with rock and roll, and they will likely not be the last. They do, however, know how to make their mark in a sea full of bands making music that draws from the same roots. Some of it is merely knowledge, and this band has a wealth that goes beyond the surface to really allow them to break down the music they hear and turn it into the music they want to make. The larger aspect is sheer talent, the skill to make the music and the ear to put it all together in a way that creates a sound that is both unique and gorgeous. Ha Ha Tonka may not be as well known as some of their peers like Old Crow Medicine Show or The Drive By Truckers, but Death of a Decade is another resounding example of why they deserve to be.

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