Described alternately as “Hee-Haw on mescaline” and “CBGB-meets-Grand Ole Opry,” The Defibulators are a New York City country band. First-and-foremost a live band, their boundless energy and infectious sense of joy onstage have quickly earned them a devoted following in a city not known for its love of country. Through four years of relentless touring since the release of their “Carter Family-meets-Ramones” (AMG) debut, ‘Corn Money’, the band’s sound has evolved and their songwriting matured, and in August 2013, they unleashed “Debt’ll Get’em”, a 10-track, au courant, urban take on classic country.  No Depression cited it as “a blistering, let’s-get-down-to-the-truth, eclectic mix of musical styles that push and stretch the boundaries of country music by blending genre-bending guitars, fiddles, and banjo with the often haunting vocals of Erin Bru and the won’t-let-you-stop-thinking lyrics of Bug Jennings.”

Co-produced with Brian Bender (Langhorne Slim, Jose James), the record channels the frenetic energy of their legendary live shows into tight, punchy hooks and foot-stomping sing-alongs. From “Pay For That Money”, a pedal steel and fiddle lament about debt, to “Ponytail Run”, a dreamy ode to beauty just out of reach, the album is a modern and wide-ranging interpretation of country styles, full of gorgeous harmonies and razor-sharp wit. “Everybody’s Got a Banjo” is a biting, 70′s swamp funk-inspired nod to the instrument’s recent ubiquity (“If you don’t know how to play it, well it still looks cool”), and “Cackalacky” is the tongue-in-cheek story of an Appalachian musician who moves to New York City to make it big in roots music. Strange as that idea might sound, it’s not too far from the truth for The Defibulators.