Jason Boland & the Stragglers Invite You to ‘Rancho Alto’

As their band name suggests, Jason Boland & the Stragglers travel off the beaten musical path. Formed in Oklahoma in 1998, the group became a fixture on the Texas Red Dirt circuit and have built a loyal fan base by playing pure country music. In spite of a number of potential setbacks Jason has experienced in the past decade (a near-fatal car accident, divorce, alcoholism and a ruptured polyp on his vocal chord, to name a few) he and his band mates have returned with a brand-new album.

'Rancho Alto,' out this week on Jason's Proud Souls Entertainment (APEX Nashville/Thirty Tigers), ushers in the second half of the singer's career with the same dedicated approach to genuine country music and builds on the success of the group's previous albums.

"There are certain things we can do that even a lot better musicians can't, and that's be us," Jason said in an interview with the9513. "Everyone's personality can permeate the tunes we write and play."

Tunes on the new collection include 'False Accuser's Lament,' told from the perspective of a farmer whose testimony (which has been paid for) sends a man to hang for a murder he didn't commit. It's a twisted take on the country classic, 'Long Black Veil' that has Texas Monthly proclaiming, "No song this dark should ever be this catchy, but damned if it's not a two-step classic."

To date, Jason Boland & the Stragglers have released five studio albums and two live discs, selling in excess of 500,000 albums total -- no small feat for an independent act. In 2008, they released 'Comal County Blue,' which was a No. 1 iTunes country album. The collection also debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard National Heatseekers chart and No. 30 on Billboard's country albums chart and became theire first-ever album to reach the Billboard Top 200.

'Rancho Alto' features 11 new songs, eight of which were written or co-written by Jason. The album was produced by Lloyd Maines (Dixie Chicks, Robert Earl Keen).