Bastard Child

A little like X if they’d given in to their country side, these hyperactive honky-tonkers slow down for their collection of wry country-rock noirs, Bastard Child. Frontwoman Kim Docter is a keen storyteller with a muscular alto, a tell-it-like-it-is mama who would do Loretta Lynn proud, and her songwriting justifies even the Lynyrd Skynyrd guitar bursts and drunken Nashville choral arrangements. Bottoms up. A-