The Crooked Rugs

Another great entry into the Cosmic American canon for 2024 swoops in from Denver’s Crooked Rugs. The outfit’s been at it for a bit, hitting their stride with a third album in as many years. Hear & Now finds the band balancing a core of Americana and cosmic country with an ability to get hazy. The best tracks here lean into the haze, picking up some of the same quiver as RSTB faves Rose City Band. While they often dip into country’s shadow like RCB, the core of The Crooked Rugs remains in the knottier end of the Americana spectrum, nodding to the same kind of jam-coated roots as Garcia Peoples and Color Green.

Songs swell with organ, stretch out with sun-soaked guitars, and toss the listener into the tumult of drums. The band lulls the listener into the haze with promises of somnambulant bliss, catching them unaware with guitars lit on an incendiary fuse, exploding into sulfurous flashes on “Chasin’ The Wind.” Crooked Rugs knock through graveled rockers (“Shortbread Getawy”) and effervescent wanders (“Feelin’ Light,” “Leave It Alone.”) before culminating in the stormy grace of closer “Midnight Cowboy.” It’s as tight as the band has ever sounded and a recommended listen if you’ve been carving through the Cosmic American landscape lately.