Since releasing their 2006 debut All That Is Tied (Raggmopp), local alt-country dudes THE PATRONS have gotten . . . drunker. At least that's the first impression after a quick spin through their new Smoke After Smoke (Confab). The Patrons have an ecumenical approach to country-rock: from Gram Parsons (natch) to Doug Sahm, the Band, the Stones (cf. "Dead Flowers"), and Solomon Burke. Mostly they like clean, pretty shuffles, but on "Don't Need Your Lovin'' Anymore," they stumble — with precise idiomatic Telecaster detail and a determined, lurching beat as singer Ryan Barrett ("doing his best Slim Harpo," according to Patron Jonah Kraut) sings the all-too-familiar tragi-comic tale, showing up at the dance a little worse for wear, running into an old flame, insisting he's over her, but wanting to take that one last dance.

from http://thephoenix.com/onthedownload/, posted Friday, Jan 4, 2008