Big Smith

Get over the Deliverance bib overalls and the Ozark ax-killer faces. The five guys in Springfield, Missouri, outfit Big Smith have long cultivated the Ozark hillbilly look, and further it with a tear-ass musical style that puts them in the company of groups like the Gourds and Avett Brothers. They usually look like they've just arrived from a turkey shoot or pig roast, but Big Smith can play high-energy, bluegrass-influenced roots music with anybody on the planet, and everyone in the band can sing like a cherub in a small country church choir. They list their influences as "Grandma and Led Zeppelin," and songs like "Trash," "Burn Down the House" and "12 Inch 3 Speed Oscillating Fan" have all the attention-grabbing, in-your-face energy of a feral hog with a bellyful of loco weed loose in your outhouse. These guys are as feel-good as it gets, so bring your shrink along. They'll cure him, too. — William Michael Smith