Hippie Country-Rock for the 21st Century?

[Daniel Morris]

Here's a label website for the new D. Charles Speer & The Helix CD, with samples:
http://www.thrilljockey.com/catalog/ind ... ?id=105263
I rather got a kick out of this disc, which features Marc Orleans on pedal steel. As someone whose first influences were the Flying Burrito Bros, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Mason Proffit, Commander Cody, etc., I found the same sort of somewhat raw, hippie-ish freshness in their melding of country and rock as those bands from the early '70s. Marc Orleans plays some other instruments, and at least as part of The Helix, he plays fairly simply and without pyrotechnics, but as with John Talbot of Mason Proffit, it works nicely.