Context helps a lot - growing up in a certain south/midwestern state, I had a healthy outsider teen-reactionary dislike for country. But then something weird, progressing through college, a little bit farther south in Texas, the sound began to click. If you find yourself driving down a vast, empty expanse of Texas highway, windows open, in a muggy spring twilight, slightly lonely, those steel guitars can really start speaking to you.

Fortunately, there's a lot of palatable options in twang to explore these days, now that Alt-Country is a bona fide genre (thanks in part to Uncle Tupelo, predecessor to current well-deserved indie-darling Wilco). And it especially seems easier in Austin, home of Li'l Cap'n Travis. With its strong music scene and non sequitur alternative/intellectual environment smack dab in the middle of, well, Texas, Austin is a perfect place for bands to twist the country sound to their own design.

Li'l Cap'n Travis (LCT) has built up a locally acclaimed reputation in Austin with their reportedly frenetic shows and wry approach, and ...In All Their Splendor is their third album. Their press release compares them to, among others, The Thrills, but don't you believe it - Cap'n Travis could drink The Thrills under the table any night, any bar or pub. And "drunk music for drunk people" is how LCT have once described their sound.

Now admittedly, beating The Thrills isn't difficult to do, and ...In All Their Splendor isn't as completely splendiferous as it might be, but it is an enjoyable collection of various twisted styles of twang. The album floats in on the strains of pedal steel and a Jimmy Buffett vibe with "Steady as She Goes" (the fishing's thrilling / but I hate cleaning out the bones / drinking all alone / talking to myself). Gary Newcomb's ethereal steel guitar playing is a highlight of the album, and at the end the album floats out again on a beautiful short pure steel instrumental ("Crawling Polaris").

But inbetween there's a set of songs. True to the off-the-cuff feel of the band, 4 out of the 5 members share lead vocals throughout. There's the cruising-down-the-highway drive of "3.2 Beer of Love" (You always said that I was sweet / The kind of man your mama'd like to meet / But no Prince Charming from up above / We were the three two beer of love), appropriate since the song's inhabited by a used car salesman. There's the loping country-pop of "Natural Fool." And there's the ragged electric Neil Young of "Throw Off the Reins" (She was a tough Texas queen from down in Killeen / Who was sick of the hayseeds and hicks). "Swimming Pool" is a particular highlight with its nostalgia-laced lyrics and its grasp of timing to spin a single musical phrase into both verse and chorus (Let's hop the fence to the swimming pool). Also, the functional ending of the album, "Broken Headlight," that builds and builds into a hypno-rock outro. Only a few songs mar the entire experience for me, the chorus to "Bar Full of Fans" becomes a little precious and grating, and while the verse to "Let Her Dance" is sweet, the chorus has the same issues (Let her dance / Let her dance / Let her dance).

...In All Their Splendor isn't the first album I'd give you if I wanted to turn you to the cult of Alt-Country, but it has some interesting diversions. And context always helps - in fact, I just remembered, during that time in Texas, I once dated a girl from Killeen.