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Rodney Parker & The 50 Peso Reward: 
Tell Me What It Is

Rodney Parker & 50 Peso Reward is one of the most intriguing and insurrectionary bands to come out of the Texas music revolution since Steve Earle or the Old 97s. Shaking off the norms of the modern Texas music establishment, Parker & the Pesos take a more radical approach – a sound that is not any more southern rock than Steve Earle, and not any more outlaw than Robert Earl Keen. Like Earle, there are no plinks in their guitar riffs, the sound moves like a heavy motor across the strings. One writer called the Pesos the band that “Just might kick Old 97’s in the teeth”, and another called the Pesos “Weezer meets Waylon”. This may be the best rock band country music has to offer. Parkers songs are more introspective and respectful of consequences than the songs of many of his country music peers. Clever and intelligent, Parker is reminiscent of Butch Hancock, a brusque and less tragic version of Slaid Cleaves.