With a swanky sound touching on country, blues, and Americana, Billy Roberts and the Rough Riders essentially transport listeners to a local bar somewhere in the deep south, where good times and harmonica-laden sing-alongs are frequent. Funny enough, the group and frontman are based in Moree, Australia — not “the south” in a typical sense, but certainly more south technically than most places. Nonetheless, a track like “No More Mr. Nice Guy” touts a feel-good Americana/country-rock hybrid that rides on Roberts’ nonchalant vocals and playful guitar twangs. A stylistic hybrid like that may not be immediately appealing to Australian audiences who didn’t quite grow up with this stylistic hybrid as a fixture, but Billy Roberts and the Rough Riders have built a nice local following nonetheless, and their sound is sure to strike a chord with listeners west of their Australian origination as well.
The track is off the group’s new album The Last of the Originals, which can be streamed in full below:
