Souled American--

Fe / Flubber (Tumult 11)

Around the Horn / Sonny

(Tumult 12)

Four albums' (on two discs) worth of lazy, plaintive indie-country

that was done in the late '80's/early '90's, a few years before this kind

of stuff became easy and predictable.

Fe, their first, is skippable, but its follow-up, Flubber, is solid, featuring some movingly moody instrumentals and "Mar'boro Man," a loopy, loping song that should have been an immediate alt-rock classic.

Around the Horn is half-good and half-okay, and sets things up nicely for S.A.'s golden moment (so far), Sonny, a collection of covers (plus one original instrumental). They do the Louvin Bros., John Prine, "Dark as a Dungeon," "Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain," a couple traditional tunes (their "Rock that Cradle Lucy" is heart-stopping), all the while sounding like they're half asleep, which is just about the right state to be in when listening to these discs.

---Brian Greene