I love record labels. When you find a good one that shares an aesthetic you enjoy it can be a magical thing. You can just lap up everything they release and know that they're basically never going to let you down. Let's hear it for Fat Possum and Ghetto Funk!

A couple of years ago I discovered Scott H. Biram and the label that puts out his records, Bloodshot Records. These guys just keep putting out great, gritty alt-country that seems to never miss the mark. Lydia Loveless comes to mind. Really, check her out.

The latest alt-country dudes that they have turned me on to go by the moniker Ha Ha Tonka, and let me tell you, brothers and sisters, these guys are the real deal. Their new album Lessons is not to be missed. It winds and grinds, jumping down the dusty backroads that only the best can navigate. This is already turning into a giant cliché and I haven't even started to really talk about the record. All I'll say from here is that if you like good, honest songwriting and hard rocking guitars, you should be listening to Ha Ha Tonka. Really, just do it. (And while dope-ass beards are present, there are some clean faces to balance it out. Love it)

Here's a video of the group playing the title track off Lessons.

Live at The Backyard Barbeque Festival, May 25th, 2013 HA HA TONKA: "Lessons". Music © Ha Ha Tonka http://www.hahatonkamusic.com/

As for me, I will be MIA for the next five weeks as I satiate my wanderlust and go off adventuring half-way around the world. I will have tales of music, love and wonder when I get back. Sit tight. I won't be long. I love you all.

I'd like to think I'm a good music fan. When I see a band I don't know opening a show I'm attending I try to familiarize myself with said band. Sometimes it's just another band, but in the case of G.Love & Special Sauce's show in Vancouver in March of 2012 the opener was Scott H. Biram. It was love at first hear. His music is genre-blending madness, crushing boundary lines all over the place. it was with furious energy that I started to devour his catalogue and in late 2012 I tracked him down somewhere outside of Phoenix for a chat about being a one-man band, religious imagery and his general bad-assery for one of my weekly columns. Finally the whole thing sees the light of day. I hope you enjoy it and find it as interesting as I did. Welcome to the First Church of the Ultimate Fantacism!

Ha Ha Tonka, Bloodshot Records and my vacation.

Who's your daddy? Hiram Biram's your daddy! (I talk to Scott H. Biram and he's as cool as I expected.)