Real Americana music from loose-knit group of Southern California cosmic cowboys
Hawks newcomers might be tempted to write off California Country as a comedy album. With novelties like “The Donkey Song,” the tongue-in-cheek “Houston Romance” and the folksy “Slash From Guns N’ Roses,” the band’s humor is front and center (as opposed to the gentler, more laconic lyrics on its 2004 effort, Grapevine). But this doesn’t make its musicianship any less impressive. With steel guitar, fiddle, acoustic riffs and electric licks, a rock ’n’ roll drummer and Rob Waller’s plaintive, Merle Haggard-style vocals, the Hawks continue to channel Gram Parsons’ easy-goin’ demeanor and affinity for good times on their third release, which features Chris Hillman—the Grievous Angel’s old bandmate—on mandolin.