Jumpin' Tracks (Flatrock, 1997)

Christine Albert is an Austin singer-songwriter with three solo albums on the mainstream country side of the alternative field. Chris Gage is a pianist/guitar player whose long career as a sideman includes a stint with Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Put them together and you get Boxcars. And much of the time you get a sound very reminiscent of Delaney & Bonnie.

The funky R&B side of things is best represented in the covers: James Brown's "I'll Go Crazy," the blues number "I Got Over It," and "Vaya Con Dios" (best known as a Les Paul/Mary Ford number, this was also an R&B hit for The Drifters in 1964) and Jesse Winchester's "I'm Looking For A Miracle" and the Butch Hancock song that gives the duo its name.

The rest are originals and often more sedate. Gilmore co-wrote and makes a vocal contribution on "Now That You're Gone." Albert's "Let The Castle Fall" is in the country-pop vein of her solo material. Still, Boxcars is a lot funkier than you'd probably expect. (Flatrock, PO Box 33294, Austin, TX 78764)