Maybe number five is the charm. Not that and his ever evolving backing band care, but it's possible that may be the record that pulls them from the glorified cult status they've enjoyed for a decade, into the mainstream -- but don't count on it. 's music is far too gritty; too poetically, sonically, and atmospherically rooted in vintage Southern soul, rock and blues traditions to translate readily into radio fodder. (named for a tenacious and resilient species of grasshopper) contains 11 new originals, recorded at 's Retrophonics Studio in St. Augustine -- as were all four previous albums. The music is steeped in funky, greasy, slippery Southern R&B, blues and rock. The backbone slipping slow-grind funk of opens the set with a wailing harmonica, a chunky single string vamp and a meets chorused refrain. changes it up immediately with two ballads, the first of which, the seven-minute is one of the most beautiful things here. It drips with raw, laidback swamp soul. ( would give his eye teeth to have written, let alone sung, it.) features the signature voice of , 's greatest influence after . With a -styled horn chart, the pair take a midtempo ballad and mold it into a sensual, simmering love song. The title track is a gritty blues eco-manifesto from the grasshopper's point of view. introduced by a Rhodes piano, is representative of its title and scorches with its brazenly sexual heat. is the most uptempo thing here, an overtly bluesly rocker. But 's deep ringing baritone pulls from Memphis soul rather than Southern Rock. The B3 twsts in your gut and the snare breaks pop in your spine. The set closes with featuring guest . It commences slowly, a shimmering soul number; but it morphs into a crescendo of blues, trancelike drums, wide-open horns and chanted vocals that bring the album down around the listener. , like each of its its predecessors, is another giant step forward in terms of its craft and quality. It will no doubt find the space in our culture that yet remains for music that's as authentic as the ground under your feet, because that's where it comes from -- just before it moves, simply and directly, through the body of the listener, into the human heart. ~ Thom Jurek