Glorious Day (Ramseur, 2010)

With the well-deserved notice the Avett Brothers have received of late, this side project of the band's bassist, Bob Crawford, with Mt. Holly, N.C.'s hell-burning attorney David Childers should garner interest. Childers was last seen leading the super-charged Don Juans, two of whom - guitarist Randy Saxon and drummer Robert Childers - also now pledge their allegiance to the Overmountain Men.

The 11-song effort is loaded with references to history and old time music, but this is no scrapbook affair. The Overmountain Men are modern men, and they come bearing gobs of great songwriting and hot playing and the distinctive and wonderfully rough vocals of Childers, who on songs such as Some Place Along the River actually sings like what the would-be, drunken troubadour in us all must think we sound like in our heads. Highlights abound, from the whacked-out, hillbilly funk of Looking For Dr. Caligari to the sadly soulful opener, Magpie.

It all ends with a 10-minute head-dunker that Jerry Lee Lewis just might love featuring depraved vocals, talk radio and Hasil Adkins. The band has suggested this is not a one-off project - let's hope that holds true.