Attempts at an authentic presentation of traditional music can show up pale imitators pretty quickly but, on the flipside, those tagged as the real deal quickly rise to the top. The Deslondes are just that with five singer/songwriters blending country music with New Orleans soul and honky tonk with thrilling results. Their songs swing and rattle along with real ache and verve, never settling into one groove, always swerving and jumping lanes into another variation of country music. Collectives like this don’t tend to have a long life span so now’s the time to hitch a ride with The Deslondes while their stars are in perfect alignment.

Chris Familton

this review was first published in The Music

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