Trent Summar & The New Row Mob may be from Nashville, but they have no more in common with Tim McGraw, Clint Black and Porter Wagoner than skim milk has with whipping cream.

The New Row Mob are second-generation descendants of a cult-like phenomenon that sprang up in Nashville in the early '80's ­ the Cowpunk Movement. A reaction to the sterility and banality of the country music trends of the early 80's, the cowpunk movement took country music and threw it in a cement mixer with punk rock attitude and energy (as well as generous dollops of rockabilly and even metal) to create an exciting brand of music that is still with us today. Much of the current Texas neo-outlaw fad owes a considerable debt to the cowpunks for broadening the country genre and the country market.

It is obvious that one of the primary influences on Summar's music is Jason and the Scorchers, the poster child band of the cowpunk movement. The Scorchers, whose live performances are now the stuff of music industry myth, were known to take a George Jones song like 'Why Baby Why' or Hank Williams' 'Lost Highway' and turn it into something resembling honky-tonk speed-metal. While Summar and The Mob don't ever quite rev up to a Jason and the Scorchers intensity level on their new disc, the similarities are obvious before the first song, 'Paint Your Name In Purple," is half finished. Big, twangy guitars, driving drums and bass, and Summar's nasal, sneering, Copperhead Road-ish vocals are all Scorchers' trademarks.

Other than Summar creating a super-group with some of Nashville's finest sidemen, one part of the success formula for this great record is getting the best "left side of Nashville" producer in the business, R. S. Field. Field seems to be everywhere at the moment, producing Louisiana bluesman Sonny Landreth as well as former V-Roy and indie icon, guitarist/songwriter Scott Miller. Field has been turning out solid roots rock, blues, and cowpunk records for years, going back to the days of Austin's Watermelon label, one of the pioneers in producing Texas roots rockers.

Summar credits Field with adding those little touches that distinguish an adequate record from an exceptional record. Summar admits that Field convinced him to record an unlikely tune, the adult soft-rock oldie by Albert Hammond, 'It Never Rains In Southern California.' I have never been able to listen to Hammond's version, and it was with a lot of suspicion that I first listened to Summar's take. The lilting flow and laid back feel of the cut break up the otherwise rocking, twangy album at just the right interval. With a deft arrangement and Field twisting the knobs, Summar has turned a tired oldies station cliché into something fresh and vital, giving the song a pathos that Hammond's rather sterile original version could never approach. Coupled with understated guitar and a vocal that Summar really leans into and packs with meaning, former Maverick Jerry Dale McFadden's organ track on the signature is just perfect. Find me a listener who doesn't like this cut, and I'll show you a person with a sour attitude and a distinct lack of soul.

Cuts like 'I'm Too Busy Missing You' have big, chunky churning rhythm tracks that make the songs sound like George Jones backed by the Rolling Stones. 'Metal, Stone, Glass and Wood' is reminiscent of another edgy Nashville band that owes much to Jason and the Scorchers, BR-549. And 'Lookout Mountain' is a country rocker that would fit on any early Charlie Daniels Band album. With the kind of musicianship available in the studio, each of these songs has been given special instrumental flourishes or cross-genre licks. 'Lookout Mountain' opens with a "Good Mornin,' Little School Girl' blues lick before progressing into a country rocker. The effect is quite pleasing.

'Starletta' is an exception on this album; it is a hardcore country love song. In fact, it is such a good country song, it should be playing on every station in the country that claims to be country. Summar's mournful, sincere vocal has just the right tone and phrasing for maximum effectiveness in putting this wonderful and unique love song across. This is one of those lyrics and melodies you just can't get out of your head if you are a country music fan.

The other anomaly on this record is 'Be So Blue.' Once again, the band - McFadden, guitarists Kenny Vaughn (Lucinda Williams) and Phillip Wallace (Hank Flamingo), Shade Reynolds on bass and one of Nashville's most in demand session drummers, Dave Kennedy - demonstrates its diverse ability and virtuosity by delivering a soul song. Comparisons to the Rolling Stones' 'Just My Imagination' are in order. Summar's Otis Redding-like vocal performance is outstanding.

With the other cover tune on the album, 'Beat Don't Ever Stop,' Summar and his outstanding band put some Texas heat in their groove and give the Austin-based Lerioi Brothers' song the full Jason and the Scorchers over-heated-radiator-about-to-explode treatment. The guitars pull no punches, the drums are big and wide, the bass is thick and insistent, and Summar's vocal verges on insolent. A song about the tribulations of bands on tour, this is country hard-rockin' and cowpunk lyric attitude at its best.

Well I woke up Monday morning on the other side of Idaho
Tryin' to make the next gig on this tourin' rockin' rodeo
Strapped into the front seat of a brand new El Dorado
Listenin' to Buck Owens on country music radio
The truckers on the CB tell me everything is all right
When we make it to the club the man says "Boys the gig was last night."

And on another hard-charger, 'Colene,' Summar has written an anthem for every man who has ever been wrapped around a female finger.

Colene, Colene, why you gotta be so mean?
You come in here flippin' your hair
Where'd you leave your ring?
You throw me a bone, treat my like a dog
While I treat you like a doggone queen.
Why you gotta be so mean, Colene?

Summar and his band distinguish themselves on this new disc by holding on to the cowpunk attitude, by continuing the tradition by writing appealing, heady, outside-the-mainstream songs, and by tempering the excesses of cowpunk into something quite palatable in a commercial sense - although you are more likely to hear their songs on Americana or alternative radio formats than on stations with Top 40 country playlists. Whatever you call it, Trent Summar and the New Row Mob are just what Nashville needs - a double dose of kick-ass, take-no-prisoners cowpunk attitude coupled with unquestionable musicianship and down home songwriting skills. Don't miss Trent Summar and the New Row Mob at KHYI's Texas Music Revolution on Sunday, March 25, in Dallas, Texas.

Contact William Michael Smith at: wms-at-rockzilla.net

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