State Line Mob
When you think of modern-day southern rock n’ roll, the band that is going to come to everyone’s mind is the State Line Mob. Their bluesy hard rock, three-guitar-weaving lineup is a southern image that’s hard to forget. The band was formed in 2007 by vocalists/songwriters Phillip and Dana Crunk, the redneck versions of Jack and Meg White, having previously played for years in separate bands, while cutting their teeth in some of the South’s most dangers and run-down honky-tonk taverns, where they learned the true meaning of southern grit and tough determination. At the time they formed the State Line Mob, the two were playing for tips and free moonshine at a dive surrounded by a swamp in Northwest Alabama, with no roads leading out but one dirt road that they plan on following straight to the top. Their name came from a real Dixie-crime organization that existed in the Mississippi-Alabama-Tennessee borderland. That State Line Mob operated illegal gambling halls, whiskey distilleries and numerous other criminal enterprises in the backwoods of these great states before being run out by

Sheriff Bufford Pusser and his posse back in 1970. The band members will not comment on whether the State Line Mob still exists or whether they have any affiliation with this underground organization. The group was discovered in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, by producer and co-writer Chris Sevier (Eliot Morris Matt Woods, Chad Bradford, Painkiller Hotel, Jason Childers), who was looking for an authentic country act, having become sick of the imposters clogging Nashville and making a mockery of southern music itself. Sevier discovered the band while they were playing in a gig-in at a truck stop on his way back to Nashville, and signed them to his Severe Records label on a non-exclusive basis. Authenticity is what he got. Their debut album, “Dixie Dirt Hole Ruckus (Music for the Truck Stops)” is the best American southern-rock album of 2007, and also the best southern-rock album since Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Street Survivors” way back in 1977. If you think this is all hyperbole, then just listen to the album. The band’s sound is similar to Bad Company’s and 38 Special’s, updated for the 21st Century. Three guitars batter you while leaders Phillip and Dana Crunk trade off on vocals and sing southern harmony. The album deals with subjects as a southern man’s pride in his ’70 Charger in “American Beauty,” redemption of the lost in Laugh the Dark Away,” and the plight of the State Line Mob in its struggle against the law in “McNairy County Line.” Clever tracks abound, the best of which are “Hooked,” “It Keeps Me Going” (the album’s most tuneful song), “Holding You,” and “Who Do You Love.” With “Ruckus,” they have established themselves in American music. The song “Baby I Miss You” is straight-ahead southern boogie, whereas “Southern Comfort” is the essence of southern gospel.” Most of the tracks embody country-fried blues rock and driving, arena-ready hard rock that will leave no listener disappointed. Paraphrasing the title of one of the album’s songs, “I Need Rock and Roll.” Fortunately, you don’t need a bottle of Jack or even a trace of southern lineage to appreciate the genius of “Dixie Dirt Hole Ruckus.” The lyrics are great; the trio of electric guitars is blessed with raw production. Though lacking the pop sensibilities of, say, American Idol’s Carrie Underwood, the tunes will have you cranking up the album for your friends. And, after a few spins of “Ruckus,” you might even find yourself digging out those old Allman Brothers LPs again.