The Mezcaltones - Mexican Hillbilly Surf Music (2020)

Lovers of all things surf, tex mex and Tarantino are gonna wallow in their tequila over this one.

The third album from the enigmatic Mezcaltones is cranking, feelgood drinking music that crawls into your boots and drags you to the dance floor of any number of dusty roadside Mexican Saloons.

Hillbilly Surf Rage opens with its infectious surf-esque instrumental cactus-twanged lure.

Steve Young's Lonesome On'Ry and Mean boards that "life in the fast lane" bus and scampers out of town in its own countrified, lackadaisical way, whilst the cowpoke Mexican lament that is Eliie, wraps its moonshine tale of love around those singing guitars and lazy roadside riffs.

Dancin' kicks in a little James Brown like (hints of I Feel Good in the arrangement) before getting down and dirty with its dusty decree of love.

The Los Lobos classic Don't Worry Baby comes off all Mexi blues like...Motorcycle Girl is snappy and retro surf splattered in an almost 'Lonely Boy' kinda way.

Shango's Surfwaxxx brings more of that timeless surf-flavoured instrumental charm to the fore, ahead of Earl Green's Six Days On The Road...country to the core and some sweet old country guitar work to boot.

Make Ends Meet signs out with its own semi-epic, gravelled, more rockier edge.

For these ears, it's the surf instrumentals that are the clear winners, but as the album title decrees, there's a little bit o' Mexican, a little bit o' hillbilly and a little bit o' surf...more than a little something for every taste.