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The Drams perform "Unhinged"

In 2005, when the esteemed Denton, Texas band Slobberbone played their final shows, there was little concern that singer/songwriter Brent Best would carry on doing what he does so well. He had been logging solo shows showcasing a handful of new songs. Additionally, there was talk that while the ’Bone would cease to be (bassist Brian Lane’s exit was the plug-puller), the band would carry on. Enter the Drams, with Slobberbone’s core of Best on guitar and vocals along with guitarist Jess Barr and drummer Tony Harper. The trio was then complemented by bassist Keith Killoren and Chad Stockslager on keys for a full rock-and-roll quintet. It’s perhaps the addition of Stockslager that has the biggest impact and really sets the Drams apart from Slobberbone. His lithe piano and organ parts bring out wider chromatics in Best’s songs. Across the 14 tracks of Jubilee Dive, Best’s songwriting takes a turn from the muddy boots guitar rock that Slobberbone perfected in bars across the world. The spit and grit is still there, with bashing rhythms and snarling guitars at many turns, but Best and the new outfit have distilled that spirit and taken it into decidedly pop territory. The Drams’ strength is in their road-honed musicianship, aligning them with the tradition of the Band, and keen ears for picking their best songs and making them work. All the while, Best remains one of those songwriters for whom “understated” and “underrated” are the perfect descriptions. His songs tend to have a timely timelessness in them and nowhere is that more apparent than “Truth Lies Low,” a bit of buoyant rock and roll slyly detailing with grim honesty the state of the union’s mess. For a more heavy-handed writer, it could have been an opportunity to beat the listener over the head with a message and ultimately wring any heart out of the song, but not for Best. “When did you become this way?/How it starts is a cliche” he points out in the slow, psych-country ballad “When You’re Tired.” Cliché, however, is something that the Drams simply don’t trade in. Jubilee Dive is an enlivened and spirited record that fails to bend to the old formula.

The Drams appear live tonight (October 19) at the Town Ballroom at 9pm, supporting labelmates the Drive-By Truckers.