New label. New producer.

But the sound of one of Austin's finest, The Derailers, remains the same. That is not such a bad thing either.

Not when the sound is a mix of honky tonk meets Bakersfield with some Sixties-styled harmonies and nods to The Beatles thrown in. You can still cite folks like Buck Owens to give an idea of what these guys sound like.

According to Tony O. Villanueva, one of the quartet's lead singers, the similarity of "Here Come The Derailers" to past efforts should not have come as any surprise.

"We were looking to continue what we have been doing," says Villanueva in a telephone interview from his Austin-area home. "We were looking to do something that was entirely Derailers and bring it up a few notches, which is close to the same."

One major difference, though, for guitarist and occasional lead singer Brian Hofeldt, drummer Mark Horn, bassist Ed Adkins and Villanueva, was the recording process. The past few albums featured ace producer Dave Alvin, not a bad name to drop amongst the edgier country crowd.

But in trying to get more of a mainstream acceptance, meaning airplay on country radio - something Villanueva and Hofeldt readily acknowledge wanting - The Derailers felt they needed to look elsewhere.

The idea of leaving Alvin was advanced by Alvin himself.

"We were interested in working with a Nashville producer," says Hofeldt from his San Marcos, Texas home. "Dave Alvin recommend to us before 'Full Western Dress' (their previous album) to go with a Nashville producer. 'You guys are country, and you deserve to be on country radio.'"

"This time, we went ahead and agreed and said we're going to try something new. We started looking around for people we respected by what they had done previously. So, we had a short list of people we were interested in."

"We were actually going to be with an A team producer, Kyle Lehning, so he had some ideas on what to do to bring us into a mainstream country proximity," says Villanueva. "He had successful ideas, mainstream records for three decades."

Prime among them was Randy Travis.

"We met with (Lehning) and talked over music and production techniques and style," Hofeldt says.

"He's a real laid back guy, but he has a real love of music and a great ear."

Villanueva says recording was "a little bit different coming into it this time. It was definitely new territory. We recorded in Nashville, but the basic goal kind of remained the same. But I think we were making conscious (decisions) of retaining what we have - things that's unique about us. We were also open to expanding and enlarging what we started, and we were open to ideas that Kyle had to raise it up a few notches."

Four previous releases were recorded in Austin.

"Nashville is the center for country music, and we're a country band," Hofeldt says. "It's the way things work. It's always been country music with very few exceptions is made out of Nashville. Buck Owens - our big hero - was one guy who was fortunate enough to do it his own way. But his producer, Ken Nelson did a lot of producing in Nashville too."

"We recorded in a great studio, the former Monument studio, where the great Roy Orbison recorded. It was a great experience, and the band played phenomenally. and I think a lot of that had to do with the confidence Kyle Lehning had in us."

"Certainly just because we're going to be away from home and a little different situation, we didn't know what to expect exactly," he says. "Things usually turn out not be that different, and that's how it turned out in a way."

"The ways it turned out to be different were all positive," says Hofeldt. "We went in and worked hard days, but not overly long. We didn't labor over stuff too long. "

"We went in and nailed those songs," he says. "It was not too different really."

Villanueva, 34, thinks Lehning was successful in enabling The Derailers to retain their sound, while also having the ability to "bring it up to date production wise. I think it sound more like a current record."

For many bands, it's a thin line between retaining their recognized sound (and of course keeping their fans happy) or changing and perhaps risking being accused of selling out. '

But for fans of The Derailers, the latter charge probably wouldn't stick.

"I think we got the best of both worlds on this one, hopefully more so every time," says Villanueva. "I think this record we accomplished this more than the last one. There are a lot of reasons for it - recording in Nashville, working with Kyle. He had some A team guys come in and working with us. It brought everything to a new level. We were very committed to retaining that Derailers thing."

Why is it important to get on mainstream country radio?

"To reach another level," says Villanueva. "As far as the music we play, going on without country radio, there's only so much farther we can go.ÊReally what it comes down to, we feel really strongly about country music. We love it. The country music we love was on country radio. It's just something important to me, like a radio hit - that is definitely the ultimate goal. That to us says you've succeeded. You've reached a level that shows you have this thing that says you did it on a commercial front."

"Hits are elusive. They're not everywhere. That's always been part of our goals and dreams. We're a country band. I don't see being on any other format. When it comes to having an opportunity, this is the one we were hoping to take."

Of course, who knows if the album contains a radio hit, but it does contain a strong set of songs.

"Picking the songs is the most crucial aspect of the album," says Hofeldt. "I have some basic level in confidence and the ability of everyone in this band. No matter what it is we can do a damn good job. If the songs aren't there, we're in deep trouble."

"When Tony and I decided we were going to entertain the possibility of fresh outside material, we got down to where we started listening to a lot of songs. We went to all the major publishing houses with the idea of being open minded. That's one thing that Buck Owens always told us. Don't be afraid to do someone else's songs. 'I did 'Act Naturally.' If I hadn't done that, who knows where my career would be?'"

Recorded in late March, the dozen songs include three Jim Lauderdale tunes, a cover of "Mohair Sam," a pop hit for the late Charlie Rich and Villanueva-Hofeldt songs.

"Bar Exam" typifies the honky tonk sound of The Derailers. The song ain't about law school, but the finer art of drinking at your local bar.

"We were just kind of having fun with the title." says Villanueva. "The title came up. Bill Carter came up with that, and we had a lot of fun writing it that song."

"It's one of those things. It just felt very natural to write a real barroom, honky tonk song," he says. "It was very fun. That was the idea of the song - something that's fun and classic honky tonk."

"I like the uptempo. I have fun writing that stuff," he says. "We like to have fun with words."

Another one filled with play on words is the closing twangy/rockabilly sounds of "There Goes the Bride," where the bride leaves the man waiting at the altar with the tag line "There goes the bride/you can kiss that girl good bye," leaving the jilted to conclude "I guess she really takes the cake this time."

The Derailers got soulful on "If It's Really Got to Be This Way," penned by the late Arthur Alexander.

"Kyle brought to our attention," says Villanueva. "We're all big Arthur Alexander fans. I hadn't heard that song myself though. I loved it. That was another thing that told us Kyle understands. He knows where we're coming from. I hear him having a lot of country soul. I love country soul. Charlie Rich - he's a great country soul singer."

"The soulful bent has been a key to the sound that we love, stuff that's soulful," Villanueva says. "George Jones and Jerry Lee Lewis. I love the gospel foundation of country music. My favorite singers like Jerry lee and George Jones - you can hear it - a lot of hymns in there. We just kind of gravitated to this thing. "

As for Rich, he did a version of "Mohair Sam," a pop hit in 1965. Give Lehning some credit for The Derailers cutting that as well.

"Kyle asked us if there's anything else we had ideas about, and Brian said 'I'd like to try 'Mohair Sam,'" Villanueva says. "Kyle said, 'Sure.' We'd been playing it live before we got to the studio. I love that track. I'm glad it's on the record."

Hofeldt sang one song this time around, "I See My Baby," which he also penned. He recalls Roy Orbison vocally.

"Certainly, I've gone through a lot of personal changes over the course of the last couple of years," Hofeldt says. "I was sitting there kind of by myself there at one point up in my little garage apartment that I have, just imagining somebody who was really lonely and had lost somebody to the extent they might go to if they might lose it. Maybe it wasn't too hard to get into that head space, and I was able to draw upon some of that stuff when I wrote that stuff. Just the typical tale of woe."

"We've been on the road an awful lot over the course of '97, '98. We really did do 320 dates in '97 and 300 in '98 and 200 in '99, and I was away from home an awful lot. Some difficulties arose out of that." (Hofeldt and his wife divorced)

The long road started in Oregon where Hofeldt and Villanueva grew up.

Villanueva recalls being influenced by Glenn Campbell's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and "Wichita Lineman," Johnny Cash and Elvis as a kid.

"Those were the biggies that I remember in the record collection," he says. "Those were the ones I listened to over and over again. And we didn't have a huge record collection. And from gospel. I learned a lot of hymns by going to church all my life. I don't remember not going to church. I remember having a real interest in gospel music and learning from different gospel singer too."

He started playing guitar when he was eight.

"It was always what I wanted to do since I was too small to play guitar. I don't know why. And I remember looking at the back of Glen Campbell records, and he's holding a guitar, and I said, 'that's what I want to do.'"

He met Hofeldt, an Idaho native, at 21 through a mutual musician friend as sidemen in another band. "We clicked right away and had a lot of exciting ideas for a band we talked about," says Hofeldt. "It didn't blossom immediately. "

Villanueva left Oregon for Austin in 1990.

"It's amazing how much music there is in this town in general and specifically country music. It's incredible. All the variety of country music in Austin is incredible. Bob Wills still is the king. Country music has never waned in popularity. It's always been part of the culture, so that's really where I needed to be. "

He eventually summoned Hofeldt to join him, and he came in 1993.

They started playing together, but needed a band name.

"We just needed a name for a gig. Brian and I were talking at a party," Villanueva says. "We were trying to figure out something that sounded kind of cool. We were talking about the railroad influence in our lives. Both our grandfathers worked on trains."

"It was little bit of a maverick (appeal), but we don't want to hurt nobody."

The band's first release was unusual in that "Live Tracks" was a live album recorded at a radio station gig at KUT radio in Austin in 1994. Some songs ended up on later albums.

The next year, the band released "Jackpot" on Watermelon with Alvin producing. "He came to the Continental Club in Austin," Villanueva explains. "That was our regular gig. We had done that for a year and a half. Dave came by the gig...I think he really loved it. He said, 'man I want to produce your guys' next record. I said, 'we don't have a record label.' He said, 'let's see what we can do."

Watermelon, an Austin-label, put out the album after Alvin put in a good word.

Watermelon encountered financial difficulties and eventually was acquired by Sire, later bought by London.

Sire released two albums: "Reverb Deluxe" in 1997 and "Full Western Dress" two years later.

Unfortunately, the timing of the latter was not good.

"Full Western Dress" was released at the same time as the label changes were going down.

"London came in and fired the entire staff," Hofeldt says. "They were not interested in country."

"Being on a Nashville label is an important part of country music. They weren't able to make forays into the country world because it wasn't their world and it was our world."

Villanueva says the band decided to head to Lucky Dog from Sire because of changes when the latter was sold in the ever changing record industry.

Villanueva says, "It was something that had nothing to do with us. It was a corporate changing of hands. That was the beginning of the end. It didn't make any sense for us to stay there. We had no outlet. It was kind of the end of that situation. We were grateful for what we had. We were able to do three videos and the success on CMT and other country video stations throughout the country has really helped us a lot on terms of exposure and fan base. Being on TV is just a good thing."

"There are no sure deals," he says of the Sire deal. "Everything has gone the way it should go."

"We talked with Lucky Dog at the same time Sire was talking about absorbing Watermelon. Lucky Dog just started up right then. It turned out that Sire and Watermelon struck up a deal, so Lucky Dog wasn't an option for us at the time. But it all worked out."

Lucky Dog "was just where we wanted to go. It seemed to make the most sense for us. We're very satisfied with the deal."

"With Sony coming into the picture, it was definitely a jumping off point, and it made sense," says Villanueva. "If everything lines up correctly, we do have a chance because they can do something about that. They're all geared for it. They have all the resources. We have a shot at country radio. We'll see how it goes."