Album: Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers: Americano!

Arizona band Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers is one-half of my favorite 90s band, The Refreshments, and 1/2 of another band called Dead Hot Workshop that never made it big outside of the Phoenix area. They're a nice mix of country-alterna-rock (think Reverend Horton Heat, but a tad more traditional) and some Mexican-influenced "salsa rock," and a little less poppy than The Refreshments were.

In preperation for their upcoming show in Seattle, I downloaded their new album, Americano!, from iTunes. While I've enjoyed listening to the Peacemakers, they never became as obsessive for me as The Refreshments used to be - but damn, Americano! is one fine album.

Standout songs: Switchblade, one of Clyne's signature ballads about self-destruction, and Your Name on a Grain of Rice, one of his postmodern love songs.

This one is going to be in my lineup for quite a while, methinks.