The fact that “My Baby’s Happy” contains the line “she just lost her job and her kitten ran away…” and then, not long after, rather nicks the spirit of The Georgia Satellites’ “Keep Your Hands To Yourself” tells you straight away that “Moonshine & Other Spirits” is not exactly your usual polite slice of Americana. Then there’s the small matter of an accordion, a hoedown and enough mischief to fill a backroom bar, all crammed into four minutes. Alright then. I’m in.
Kier Byrnes & The Kettle Burners are anything but conventional, and that’s the joy of this EP. It takes the old ingredients — country, rock’n’roll, punk attitude, a bit of rootsy swagger — and throws them together with the sort of grin that suggests they know exactly how much fun they’re having.
“Impossible” proves this lot can do more than just tear the place up. If The Stones had ever fully committed to being a country band, they might have come up with something like this. It struts, it swings, and it has that ragged little smirk that the best rock’n’roll always needs.
“Goin’ Down In Style”, originally from Robert Earl Keen, is an absolute belter here. There’s a real Jason & The Scorchers energy to it, and praise does not get much higher than that. But the thing that really sends it over the top is the accordion solo, which is genuinely jaw-dropping. You can only imagine how good this sounds live. In truth, you can only imagine how good their shows must be full stop.
“Whitehouse Road”, a Tyler Childers song but very much not as you know it, is all nefarious deeds and side-street danger. It sounds like the sort of place that would scare the living daylights out of me, and frankly I’m happy to admire it from a safe distance. That line about getting “higher than the grocery bills” is worth the admission price on its own.
Then “Make Me Wanna Dance (Moonshine Shuffle)” gets in, does the business and gets out again in two minutes flat. It feels like it could have been cut at Sun Studios in 1958, all snap, shake and rockabilly urgency. Mind you, I take issue with the idea they’re “looking for romance”, because it sounds much more like they’re looking for trouble, a party, and maybe somewhere to keep the whole circus rolling for another hour or two. Which, to be fair, is much more fun.
And that’s really the point of “Moonshine & Other Spirits”. In five songs and 19 minutes, Kier Byrnes & The Kettle Burners boil rock’n’roll down to its primal urges: movement, noise, wit, speed, danger and a glorious lack of good sense. It’s rowdy, ridiculous in all the right ways, and an absolute blast.
I still wouldn’t want to live on “Whitehouse Road”, though.
RATING 8.5/10
