Black Joe Lewis And The Honeybears

It seems shocking that Austin blues-rockers Black Joe Lewis And The Honeybears have only been playing their gritty numbers for a few years; the raw delivery of 2009’s Tell ’Em What Your Name Is!suggests that it’s actually blasting from a garage back in 1960. On 2011’s Scandalous, Lewis and the band keep their priorities straight (blues first, dancing second), talking old-school infidelity on “Messin’” before moving on to burned-out desert-dwellers in “Mustang Ranch.” It’s all shot through with a hungry energy corralled by producer Jim Eno, who makes the Honeybears sound raw, fiery, and, well, scandalous as ever.

Updated 02/07/2012