On The Baptist Generals’ sophomore album, the Denton, TX band, known for its haunting, claustrophobic take on drunken folk, needed ten full years to bare its hearts—one of which is in the album title, Jackleg Devotional to the Heart, a name that songwriter Chris Flemmons conjured shortly after he recorded, and then trashed, the album’s first attempt in 2005.
Clearer, brighter, and more direct than the band's early lo-fi output, Jackleg Devotional sounds more spiritual and sober, grounded in themes more long-term and searching than the often drunken folk meandering of the group's early days.
Maintaining a roots rock backbone, Flemmons and company strike some holy middle ground between Crazy Horse and Neutral Milk Hotel on songs like “Oblivion” and “Dog That Bit You,” exploring some serious existential ponderance without skimping on the guitar solos.
The sounds are clear and deliberate, and have the type of hunger that only comes from a project marinating for many years.