Lower Dens

When it comes to Houston music, there are two people you should never miss. One is Don Walsh of Rusted Shut; the other is Jana Hunter, now of Lower Dens. Anywhere they take you is where you need to be. Since Jana relocated to some woebegone place far from our beloved corporate swamp, taking Houston mainstay Will Adams with her, she's become our best export whose lyrics combine the best of Flannery O'Connor, Willie Nelson and Mayo Thompson. The songs are unforgettable, her band Lower Dens unfadeable and Hunter's voice is a wonder, captivating and onerous, full of pathos and authority. Don't trip yourself up on the lameness of the modern age; this isn't folk music, this isn't indie rock, it's better than all that. Better than other bands, better than silence, better than a ruckus and better than you remember it – stretched-out strands of gorgeous prom-night guitar, cat-footed rhythmic shuffles and Hunter's soothsaying, sharkskin rug of a voice.