Deer Tick

Add Date: June 1

Artist: Deer Tick

Album: The Black Dirt Sessions

Label: Partisan

Genre: Folk, alt-country

Comments: Deer Tick exploded onto the scene in the summer of 2009, when the band's second record, Born on Flag Day, started drawing appropriate comparisons to Hank Williams and John Prine, among others. Driven by John McCauley's great songwriting and raspy voice, a perfect match for the musical style, tracks like "Easy," "Hell on Earth" and "Straight Into a Storm" lit up this station's airwaves, in particular. But the LP wasn't merely a country-rock stomp: go back and listen to "Little White Lies," "The Ghost" and "Smith Hill," and you'll quickly find that McCauley is just as adept at more intricate folk.

And that's the direction that Deer Tick goes in on The Black Dirt Sessions. As you might expect with this style, lyricism comes into play even more, and McCauley is up to the task--this is a much darker record, delving into themes like mortality, death and the existence of God and heaven, and yet it's no less accessible than Born on Flag Day. "Twenty Miles" is one of the best songs I've heard all year, and there's plenty more to back that up. McCauley is joined by Elizabeth Rodgers Isenberg on the contemplative "The Sad Sun," cranks it up just a bit with "When She Comes Home," and then chases everyone else away for the piano ballad "Goodbye, Dear Friend."

One of 2010's best.