Sons of Anarchy: North Country - EP

Editors’ Notes

The North Country EP kickstarts with the infectious theme song by Curtis Stigers & The Forest Rangers, who balance hard Americana with twangy Southern rock that's wrapped in all the warmth and familiarity of vintage guitar tones culled from those bygone ‘70s AM radio jams. Anvil & Franky Perez’s “Slip Kid” sparks new life into old-school biker rock with some boozy, rootsy, Leslie West-inspired singing under heavy cheeseburger-chomping riffs played loud through new amps. Curtis Stigers & The Forest Rangers return with a haunting take on the old blues standard “John the Revelator,” and a couple of solid Dylan covers bookend the EP. Audra Mae loans her endearing farmer’s-daughter voice to the Rangers on a beautifully sparse country-folk version of “Forever Young,” though Lions’ ambitious reworking of “Girl from the North Country” is surprisingly tasteful even though it sounds squeezed through a commercial indie-rock filter somewhere in between the Shins and Rogue Wave, sounding maybe more appropriate for the soundtrack to Garden State or Juno.