Brandon Kinney

Brandon Kinney is reviving an irreverent form of country that follows in the footsteps of Country Music Hall of Famer Roger Miller: skewed images, offbeat personalities, unpredictable phrasing—enough oddball elements to keep the listener a little off balance, but continuously aware that Kinney doesn’t take himself, or the world around him, too seriously. Seriousness is “not in my personality, which is probably not always a great thing,” he admits.His idiosyncratic view of the warped world around him is oddly evident in “Smells Like Texas,” a debut album with a party atmosphere and a punchline title.The project is loaded with love-inducing alcohol, a religious kook, a cranky wife, a masculine transvestite, a perpetual lounge lizard, a grandma with a biker boyfriend and a trailer-park beauty who’s the 21st century poster child for trashy women. It’s a laughable walk on the weird side—country with a twisted smile