Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs: Medicine County

The British have always had a way with Americana, and Holly Golightly is no exception. The English expatriate—who now lives on a farm in Georgia—puts a fresh spin on the dusty, sepia-toned roots album with her latest full-length, Medicine County. Backed by The Brokeoffs (a.k.a. guitarist-drummer Lawyer Dave), Golightly fills her creeping compositions with country, blues, folk, and the occasional whiff of exotica. On the title track—a loping cowgirl lament that shambles along like a swayback nag—Golightly lets her girlish voice take on a wearying weight, while “Eyes In The Back Of My Head” evokes the unhinged heart of psychedelic garage-rock, the kind that might be fueled by moonshine instead of LSD. At times the songs drift disappointingly close to generic blues-punk territory; incidentally, those are the tracks that feature Lawyer Dave too prominently on vocals, when it’s Golightly who ought to be front and center, as she is on the ghostlike “Dearly Departed.” Medicine County is a scattered disc, for sure, but its simple joys are ripe for the plucking.