The Last Kings of Babylon [LP]

Hailed by the New York Times as “one of the country scene’s most multidimensional songwriters,” Oklahoma-born troubadour Jason Boland has spent the last 25 years at the forefront of the Red Dirt sound, blurring the lines between roots, rock, folk, and bluegrass as he’s built his wildly devoted audience one sweaty, transcendent show at a time. Since the release of his 1999 debut, Pearl Snaps, Boland has racked up more than half a million album sales, collaborated with the likes of Shooter Jennings and Robert Earl Keen, and performed everywhere from the Cain’s Ballroom to the Grand Ole Opry, all with his longtime backing band, The Stragglers. Boland’s latest album, The Last Kings Of Babylon, serves as something of a retrospective, reflecting back on the last quarter century through a series of raw, exhilarating performances captured live on the studio floor in just two whirlwind days of basic tracking. Helmed by legendary producer Lloyd Maines, the collection finds Boland and the band continuing to evolve, pushing sonic boundaries and challenging genre conventions even as they embrace history and tradition. The result is a timeless offering from a group of master craftsmen at the top of their game, a joyful, honest snapshot of a working band 25 years into their unlikely—and unstoppable—career.