DUTCH PINK, Idols and Infidels (2007, self-released)

Listen: “Idols and Infidels”

Adulterers, the Arapaho, gamblers, ghosts, fortune tellers, and Bettie Page — these are the characters who lurk in the rough causeways and dirt basements of Dutch Pink’s songs. Lead man Dustin Leslie’s affinity for Tom Waits (or even Robbie Robertson) is acknowledged in his every choke, grind of teeth, and slurping intake of breath. But influence is nothing without a shoestring’s twist of the unique, and that’s where the cast of tonic pushers and dog-faced boys who inhabit Idols and Infidels makes their presence felt — over a great run of songs including “Conscience (Oklahoma),” the roiling opener “You Can’t Blame Me,” the Pogues cabaret linger of “Idle Tavern, Madrid,” and the surging title track, where a Hammond heaves up and down like a jalopy struggling to clear a hairpin hilltop turn, Long and his mates twist turns of phrase inward on vintage instrumentation, folk, blues, gospel, and bandstand rock-n-roll, and tear their stories from the roots of the American experience. It should be clear how fun Dutch Pink’s music is to drink to. — Johnny Loftus

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Tags: Dutch Pink, Idols and Infidels