Album Review- Tejon Street Corner Thieves- Thick as Thieves

One of my recent discoveries is the Colorado based Tejon Corner Street Thieves. Last years Stolen Goods was an enjoyable listen- old folk songs given a modern touch TCST are out of that tradition of mixing punk ethos and classic Americana themes. They call their music “trashgrass”. There weren’t many bands like this 20 year ago, but there’s quite a few now whose stock in trade is Murder Ballads and Southern Goth. It is probably descended from the mix of the 80s Cowpunk bands, the 90s No Depression crowd and the Outlaw Country genre (with occasional nods to Cave and Cash). Denver’s 16 Horsepower were surely one of the first of this strain of alt country, but the list has just grown, with along the way, with some of the biggest names being Those Poor Bastards, The Devil Makes Three and Murder By Death. If you haven’t heard these bands, they’ve been covered by bigger names like Hank Williams 3 or showed up in movies like Inglorious Bastards. These days, it isn’t an original idea any more, so it comes down to whether these bands have a charismatic front person and whether the band has tunes. That’s where TCST stands out. Also as an aside, TCST are given credit as the first band during the pandemic to do “drive by” concerts where they would literally drive where their fans requested them.