A nice melding of country and rock

Reviewed June 2009

Leucadia's Sky Held Sun has issued a self-titled seven-song EP that displays a band drawing on rock and country in nearly equal amounts. It's not always a perfect blending of the disparate styles, often more of a meshing. But their songs have an accessible appeal, and they embrace old-timey country rhythms and figures unself-consciously, minus sentiment and smirk.

On numbers like "Mr. Ballarat," "Caroline" and "Quicksand," the band leans harder toward its country roots, with a notable twang to their playing. "Blink of an Eye" even contains some pretty strong strands of jazz. On "Devil's Right Hand Man," the band shows it can rock out, and even inject some psychedelia.

A bit rough around the edges at times, the combination of strong playing, undiluted enthusiasm and sharp playing make this a welcome addition to the San Diego catalog.

Review by Jim Trageser. Jim is a writer and editor living in Escondido, Calif., and was a contributor to the "Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD" (1993) and "The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Blues" (2005).