LimeWire Music Blog

The Band of Heathens is a quintet that came together when three of its members shared a residency as solo acts at an Austin venue. The cadre of country-tinged songwriters garnered big buzz on the Americana music scene after releasing a few raucous live albums and then, last year, a self-titled debut full-length. Proving as prolific as they are talented, The Band of Heathens is back with a second studio album, One Foot in the Ether. It opens strong, with “L.A. County Blues,” a tribute to Hunter S. Thompson that offers the very appropriate lyric, “We’re burning down Las Vegas town / Head to sleep by noon.” But it’s not all fear, loathing, and bravado: The guys get tender as they harmonize on the chorus to slow, lovelorn “Let Your Heart Not Be Troubled.” The Band of Heathens does Gillian Welch proud on a cover of the singer’s “Look at Miss Ohio,” a shrewd character study with the memorable refrain, “Gonna do right, just not right now.” With One Foot in the Ether, the group shows it’s got mainstream appeal in spades. It may be only a matter of time before they reach CMT-level fame. For now, though, we don’t mind that the band remains the well-guarded secret of Americana fiends.