Why We’re Putting Our Money On LoCash Cowboys

(Average Joes Entertainment)

They may be short on funds, but that’s not stopping LoCash Cowboys from having a good time.

If anything, the inventive singing/songwriting team of Chris Lucas and Preston Brust know how to deliver one heck of a bang for the musical buck.

Filled with a jukebox’s worth of radio-ready songs, their self-titled album throws a bunch of genres up in the air and no matter how they fall together, still sound great. Aspects of rock, pop and even touches of funk and hip-hop are right at home with their country cousins, effortlessly woven together on a dozen tracks that demand repeated listening ‘til you get every word right.

And it’s the smart — and sometimes snarky — lyrics that are as much a hook for LoCash songs as the music. In fact, the talented duo’s writing skills already started garnering acclaim last year, when they penned Keith Urban’s Number One hit, “You Gonna Fly,” and Tim McGraw’s Top 10 smash, “Truck Yeah.”

Now their own first single, “Chase A Little Love” has been all over country radio, and the cool effects used on the song’s guitars and drums are a taster for the unexpected touches heard  throughout the album — like the unlikely pairing of fiddle and banjo with treated vocals on “C.O.U.N.T.R.Y. “ But perhaps the biggest surprise of all is the late, great George Jones on “Independent Trucker.” A rollicking fast number and one of the last tracks he recorded, it’s proof that the LoCash crew can sound just as natural harmonizing with "The Possum" on a truckin’ tune as they do tearing into one of their modern country rave-ups.

While the album’s stomping good times continue on “Hey Hey Hey” — a winking nod to the  southern-fried lifestyle — and the fist-pumping anthem “Bounce,” the guys know a change of pace does a body good. So “Keep In Mind” combines violin, piano and harmonies into an emotional ballad, while “Best Seat In The House” makes a stirring tribute to Lucas’s father.

Perhaps the LoCash Cowboys say it best when summing up their new release. “(It) really boils down to the power of the song” Preston Brust says, with Chris Lucas adding, “It’s all killer, no filler.” In short, LoCash Cowboys have hit pay dirt on their new album.