One More Couple of Beers by The Ugly

“It’s like a ghost town here
Walking down Mission Street
I always drink alone
In places we would meet”

Anyone who listened to Noelle and the Deserters on our Lower Grand Radio show knows about one of their superpowers: the singer and guitarist Graham Norwood. Now you can get another round of rollicking good times from Norwood and company on One More Couple of Beers, the debut album by Oakland country rockers The Ugly.

A couple of the songs (“California,” “Quarantine Blues”) seem dated to the COVID era, but the rest is largely typical blues-and-country fare, including cheating ex-lovers, drunk guys at the bar, and… redneck UFO pilots? Okay, so it’s not all typical, and the hilarity maybe reaches its height on “Moderation,” a tongue-in-cheek honky tonk with a level of authorship somewhere between Hunter S. Thompson and Jello Biafra, propounding the virtues of drinking whiskey and tequila, taking quaaludes, shooting heroin, and on and on—in moderation. Chock full of pedal steel, electric solos, and that deep bassy outlaw voice telling stories of modern life, it’s an essential next listen for local country lovers.

Listen on Bandcamp →