Juweel : Josh Abbot band.

A mere 57 seconds into the opening track of the Josh Abbott Band's She's Like Texas, you're likely to be hooked. One intro, one verse and one chorus are pretty much all that's required to recognize something special in the Texas-based act. And Josh Abbott-the founder, lead singer and chief songwriter for the ensemble-evinces a slight Steve Earle character: breathy, fiery, intense.

Those initial sounds set the tone for She's Like Texas, the sophomore album from the Lonestar State's best-kept secret. The project is deceptively simple in its approach, built around honest songs about real-life emotions with strong harmonies and winsome melodic hooks.

Texas has its own sound within country, and acts have been able to make a living inside its borders while the rest of the U.S. looked the other way. But the walls that once separated the state's multi-genre sound from country's mainstream dropped for many of its most important acts in the last decade.

With She's Like Texas, it's paid off in the form of a sturdy, emotional album that sets up the do-it-yourself Josh Abbott Band as the Lonestar State's next authentic breakout. It might take years to analyze the depth of the sound, but it takes only minutes-maybe just seconds-to recognize the powerful uniqueness it adds to Texas music, and to the whole of country music.

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