The Dallas/Ft. Worth-based Vandoliers may know their way around a fiddle and sport the occasional cowboy hats, but underneath their pearl snap western shirts are sleeves of punk rock tattoos and the occasional faded Clash t-shirt. The band, which has spent the last seven years managing to perfectly meld punk influences with Outlaw Country heroes – is one of the few who can jump from a tour opening up for Flogging Molly and segue right into the opening slot for the Turnpike Troubadours (as they did earlier this year).
On their self-titled LP, their third release, the band is as tight as ever with a set that perfectly balances their country side with strong, often distorted guitars, and the occasional Tejano horn, building perfectly on the foundation that was laid down with 2017’s The Native and 2019’s Forever. The bulk of the songs here were actually written not long after their last release, but the pandemic shut down their first ever tour of Europe, canceled their plans to finish recording (after two weeks in the studio) and, to top off a shitty situation, saw the implosion of their former record label (Bloodshot Records).
“We wanted to make an album that had the same power as our live performance — a tight, big sound,” Joshua Fleming, the singer, said recently. “Through trial and error, label closure, fatherhood, sobriety, relapse, the album grew on its own stylistically. After the hardest two years of my life, we created a collection of songs that push us as musicians, songs that reaffirmed my place as a songwriter and a faith in ourselves as a band I don’t think we had before.”
And despite that disparate way in which the album was written and recorded, there is a cohesiveness to the record that belies the reality of its making. The opening song, “The Lighthouse,” a sweet sentimental mid-tempo lullaby written for Fleming’s daughter who was born during the pandemic, fits perfectly amongst the rowdier anthems here, like “Better Run” and “Bless Your Drunken Heart,” which has a Celtic flair that would impress their buddies in Flogging Molly, complete with punk rock-worthy gang vocals.
Impressively, Fleming’s knack for writing smart, relatable lyrics is best shown off on “Howlin’,” a song about heartache and longing… written from the perspective of a dog missing its owners. It may have taken a few years to finally come to fruition, this self-titled record is proof that the Vandoliers are just now hitting their stride and are hopefully laying out a road map with this album for a very long journey ahead.
