The Hangin' Cowboys

I also enjoyed The Hanging Cowboys at Bodega’s Alley. The six-man country band played a fine set of sometimes funny, sometimes sad songs about drinking, going to work, relationships and, did I mention drinking, with Shaun Sparks on vocals. - Lincoln Journal Star

I have seen my share of live country acts, and there are quite a few that make amazing live shows for various reasons. Hanging Cowboys embody what have made those great country shows so entertaining. - Daily Nebraskan

Lincoln honky-tonk band The Hangin’ Cowboys channel the classic sound from predecessors Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings to spotlight retellings of modern Nebraskan character in its 2016 release Happy Hour. - Hear Nebraska

The Hangin’ Cowboys, Lincoln’s fine rockin’ country bar band, are well captured on the appropriately titled “Happy Hour, an album that opens with the title cut's celebration of barroom life and closes with “Last Call” reprise. - Lincoln Journal Star

The Hangin’ Cowboys, "West." On album number two, The Hangin’ Cowboys deliver 11 songs squarely in the country-rock tradition begun by the likes of Gram Parsons and continued by Steve Earle and a passel of “alt. country” bands of the '90s and 2000s.

And they do it better than ever, substituting twangy electric guitar for the pedal steel of their debut “Happy Hour” and rocking a little harder behind the drums of Matt Ihrig.

Singer/guitarist Shaun Sparks, a veteran of a handful of local country and rock ensembles, has never sounded better either, effectively working his way through uptempo numbers like “You Ain’t Alive (But You Sure Ain’t Dead),” and the revved up, shifting country kicker “Honky Tonk Days” (catch “Small” Dave Merritt’s wild piano at the end), through to the stripped-down ballad closer, “The Letter and the Phone.”

Along the way, the Hangin’ Cowboys sound like “Sweethearts of the Rodeo” era Byrds on the the love song “Colorado Baby,” take a slow drifting heartbreaking trip “South of Wichita” and rock 'n ' roll their way “West (Yeah Baby That’s Right).”

Among the album’s standout tracks is its only song not written by Sparks, bassist Russ Eikerman or electric guitarist Jeff “Fanny” Schnittker — Lern Titton’s “I Love You Whiskey,” a song that also appears on Lloyd McCarter’s latest album. The Hangin’ Cowboys turn it into a barroom weeper (although a slightly ridiculous one), with Sparks joined by Freakabout’s Cortney Kirby, who sounds a lot like '70s Dolly Parton singing with Porter Waggoner when their voices intertwine.

From start to finish, “West” is country rock/outlaw country/whatever you want to tag it as it should be heard — which is about as high praise as can come for any record.

The Hangin’ Cowboys will release “West” on CD and vinyl at the Honky Tonk Hoe Down at Pla-Mor Ballroom on Saturday. The 7 p.m. show is a pre-party for the Nebraska Folk and Roots Festival and will feature Omaha’s Clarence Tilton and The Bottle Tops along with The Hangin’ Cowboys. - Lincoln Journal Star