Mescalito

'Mescalito', the debut album from Texas singer / songwriter Ryan Bingham, offers a traditional sound that is also fresh and original.

Ryan Bingham knows a thing or two about pain. He learned the emotional aspect early in life, when shuttling between small towns and family members in the hardscrabble ranching communities of West Texas and New Mexico - and became well-acquainted with the physical facets during his years on the Southwestern rodeo circuit.

That ache is palpable in the grooves of 'Mescalito', Ryan Bingham's Lost Highway debut, but what's even more plain is the steely strength needed to overcome it - a tenor that's evident in both the singer / songwriter's preternaturally wizened voice and his remarkably poignant songs, which resonate with roadhouse wisdom and rough-and-ready border-town piquancy.