***1/2 Wayne Hancock

THUNDERSTORMS AND NEON SIGNS

(Ark 21)

It's official: alterna-country is a phee-nomenon. Young country musicians who represent the antithesis of Nashville sensibilities are making headway with audiences entranced by honesty, grit, good times, and grunge delivered in various doses. So what's that got to do with the pure honky-tonk sound of singer/songwriter Wayne Hancock? Well, it helps explain how the young Texan achieved enough success with his '97 Ark 21 disc That's What Daddy Wants to persuade the label to re-release his '95 debut, Thunderstorms and Neon Signs.

Both CDs revel in the pleasures of a heavy string thumping against a stand-up bass, heartfelt but nasal vocals, twanging guitar breaks, weeping and whining steel-guitar backing, and Hank Williams-like originals just as clear and hard-hitting as a bottle of moonshine. On Thunderstorms, Hancock celebrates his hard-won sobriety in an upbeat, rockabilly way, acting as the designated driver in "Double A Daddy." (The "Double A" stands for, of course, Alcoholics Anonymous.) Other cuts swing and sway so convincingly that you'd never notice there are no drums beating out the meter. My dictionary says honky-tonk is a "cheap, noisy bar or dance hall." But my ears say it's Wayne Hancock.

-- Bill Kisliuk