Artist Deer Tick

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Deer Tick

Deer Tick’s by-the-book rockabilly is mostly notable for the band’s age (very young) and hometown (Providence, Rhode Island—not exactly the South). But what Deer Tick lacks in originality it more than makes up for with foot-stompin’, hootin’ and hollerin’ energy, not to mention the gravel-smeared voice of baby-faced frontman John McCauley. Its sophomore album, 2009’s Born On Flag Day, reaffirms the band’s disinterest in innovation, but it ups the ante considerably with regard to raising a ruckus. McCauley slides over to piano and brings in former Titus Andronicus guitarist Ian O’Neil on the band’s 2010 full-length,The Black Dirt Sessions—a sparser, ballad-heavy album that serves as a piano-led group-sing at the close of a raucous night. The band’s latest ode to booze-drenched ruckus, Divine Providence, dropped Oct. 25.

Updated 11/01/2011