GRIEVOUS ANGELS third CD "MILES ON THE RAIL" on
Bloodshot Records     Tempe, Arizona's favorite sons continue the journey from the sweaty, scorching parking lots and cookie-cutter condo enclaves of the Southwest to the sticky, smoky beer joints and decaying industrial parks of the North. How can one not love the classic, old-school honky-tonk stylings in the vein of BUCK OWENS and LEFTY FRIZZELL against the chutzpah of indie-rock luminaries like GREEN ON RED and the LONG RYDERS? Leading the charge for the  Grievous Angels (named, duh, after the seminal Gram Parsons album) is guitarist/co-producer Dan Henzerling.  Listen as he tightropes between the sparse boom-chicka-boom of JOHNNY CASH's longtime sideman Luther Perkins and the DRUNKEN SLASH AND BURN of the REPLACEMENTS' late, great Bob Stinson (that's also Dan doing the singing on the TOM WAITS song "Cold, Cold Ground" and the woozy version of HANK WILLIAMS' "Long Gone Lonesome Blues").  The Angels also boast the finest pedal steel/banjo/mandolin/hawaiian guitar player this side of....well...anyone. Jon Rauhouse's style of part swoon and part swashbuckle has left many a jaw hanging agape. (He recently guested on some songs on the OLD 97's major label debut).  Up front is singer/acoustic guitarist/notoriously fussy travelmate Earl C. Whitehead, whose born and bred in the urban desert worldview colors the subject matter bleaker and more apocalyptic than any Nashville hit factory would ever allow. Grievous Angels' previous releases (also on Bloodshot), 1995's "Angels and Inbreds" and 1997's "New City of Sin,"  have placed them among the progenitors of the underground country movement.  They have also appeared on our ground-breaking compilations "Hell-Bent: Insurgent Country Volume 2" and "Straight Outta Boone County." Nan Warshaw BLOODSHOT RECORDS   912  W.  ADDISON  CHICAGO  IL  60613-4339   USA