For a laid-back bunch that never seems like they’re in much of a hurry to get anywhere, these Nashville cats cover a good amount of ground on their fifth long-player. Okey Dokey finds the erstwhile garage rockers doubling down on the easy-grooving country-jam vibes of 2014’s great Dancin’ With Wolves. Essentially, it’s 10 variations on the same space-y, Southern-fried choogle—their baseline mid-tempo vamp striking a rough midpoint between Neu! and the Grateful Dead—approached from an assortment of angles.
The mesmerizing minimalism of opener “Sure Is Nice” wrings an engaging five-plus minutes out of a single chord and a literally one-note melody. And there’s peppy blues-based ditties like the Allman-esque “Juanita” and wry, lyric-driven fare like the topical “NSA Blues” and cash-poor neo-hippie lament “Transcendental Meditation.” The most surprising (and perhaps most satisfying) shake-ups come with the languorous, nearly instrumental expanse of the last two tracks—almost seven minutes apiece—particularly the cosmically tripped-out, flute-swirling finale.
—K. Ross Hoffman
