“I went down to the High and Lonesome Club,” Ken McMahon sings on The Rowdymen’s latest CD, Gas, Liquor and Fireworks. And that’s about right: The retro rockabilly you’ll find on this 13-track disc from this 12-year-old band sounds like something you’d hear at either the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance or at the Times Change(d) on a Saturday night. Standout tracks include Johnny Rumble, an upbeat number about the legend of a boy “born with a guitar in his hands,” and Tear It Up, a song so good it makes even a wallflower like me want to get up and dance. You may not be ready for this, but your kids are going to love it. Catch The Rowdymen live when they release Gas, Liquor and Fireworks on Saturday, Dec. 5 at – where else? – the Times Change(d).

Published in Volume 64, Number 14 of The Uniter (December 3, 2009)