*** Damnations TX

HALF MAD MOON

(Watermelon/ Sire)

In the broad spectrum of "alt.country" (as its current chronicle, No Depression magazine, says, "whatever that is"), Damnation TX fall into cowpoke territory, but with a melodic swath cutting through their songs like a pink streak across the desert sky. The twangy electric guitar, locomotive beats, and bouncing bass lines on Half Mad Moon place you squarely inside the roadhouse, but the clunky-plunked banjo and sweet, stringy fiddle are pure, back-porch Appalachia.

What really distinguishes the folks in Damnation TX from every other roots rockers who didn't get kicked out of Whiskeytown last year, though, are the tomboyish vocal harmonies of sisters Deborah Kelly and Amy Boone, which approach the soul-steeped folk of the Continental Drifters' Susan Cowsill and Vicki Peterson. From the moment they sing, "My moonlight has turned to a neon-colored charm," on the opening track, the Austin natives' contemporary Western imagery is captivating. The sisters' drunkard's waltzes, whiskey-soaked laments, and existential desert musings are all evocative, and the band flirt with brilliance on "Black Widow" when they make the loss of a stolen amplifier sound sadder than a lost lover: "The damned thing even had a name . . . I sure could use a drink."

-- Ed Hazell