Catchy and memorable alt-country belies the dark words of addiction and gender dysphoria.
Texas-based Vandoliers were formed in 2015 by singer Jenni Rose after her Fort Worth punk trio, The Phuss, dissolved. This is their fifth album, and it is a fabulous collection of memorable tunes and strong lyrics. There is some punk influence and energy here, but it is altogether poppier than punk, and with enough twang to make it alt-country. Fellow Texan Joshua Ray Walker lends a hand on one track, and the music on the album is a bit like his, but more energetic and less maudlin.
Rose, who wrote all the songs with different members of the band, came out publicly as a trans woman in a 2025 article in Rolling Stone. Many of the songs address the turmoil of this, but also her addiction problems. The bleak nature of the words is at odds with the upbeat music, but this makes it all the more interesting.
The swinging opener ‘Dead Canary’ starts the album well and sets the scene for what is to come with its rousing chorus, but also in its words on Rose’s troubles: “I was crying/ In a bottle/ Broken spirit/Troubled heart”. It is followed by the catchy title track and single ‘Life Behind Bars’ which deals with being trapped in various ways- Rose by her gender dysphoria, but for the other writers by being in prison, in a dead-end job, or in the grind of a working band.
The single ‘Your Picture’, with its Irish-folk feel, works well to convey the comfort a picture of a loved one can bring, without being too cloying. The Irish influence is also found in ‘Evergreen’, with banjo giving a bluegrass tinge, and in the Pogues-like chant-along cowpunk of ‘Jim’s Barn’. This is a good story of a gig for the band teetering on becoming a riot, and them wondering if it was all going to end with a night in the cells. The album ends wonderfully with another Pogues-like Irish track, ‘Dead in a Ditch’. Here, Rose thanks a partner for saving her and again sets out her troubles: “I’ve been dying within/No one noticed at all”.
‘Bible Belt’ is an absolute banger, addressed to a disapproving and, you guess, religious parent. Rose often has a nice turn of phrase, and here we get “Born in the buckle of the Bible Belt /I wish I was from somewhere else”. The band shows its Texan roots with the Tex-Mex ‘Valencia’, which reminds you of The Mavericks and is a nice story of the regret that a meeting did not lead to romance.
Country music shows up on ‘Thoughts and Prayers’ with its honky-tonk Jerry Lee Lewis piano and words of doubt about the value of prayer. It is also seen on the single ‘You Can’t Party With The Lights On’. The video for this starts with an exasperated record company Exec giving the band a massive bollocking for the way they look and being too punk. He drafts in Joshua Ray Walker and Taylor Hunnicutt to inject some country and sort them out. Great fun, although even with this apparently light-hearted song, Rose says that it has a more serious meaning: “This song is about the lie of escapism. You can’t party as hard as I was and still be self-aware. That kind of partying is about avoiding your pain, not facing it”
The catchy melodies, which pop up in your head as you are minding your own business, and the skilful and engaging lyrics make this one of the albums of the year so far.
