Here's a lovely little five-piece out of Houston, Texas for your listening pleasure. They're called F.Co., and you pronounce that "eff koh". Or at least they do. The band has been together since 1999, and was started up by Thomas Watts and Ryan Mucha. They've got at least one award under their belt already: KIKK-FM (R.I.P.) named them Texas Most Wanted Band in 2002. I have no idea what that means, but it's gotta be something pretty good if it's from the late, much-lamented KIKK. KIKK was a huge loss to Houston and Texas radio, and it was one of the few highlights of my frequent bidness trips to the Bayou City. Now that it's gone, I mostly end up listening to the Mexican radio stations and one old-school R&B station when I can dial it in.

Back to F.Co. A couple of weeks, my darling wife threw their new CD, King of Texas, at me. Literally — I almost lost an eye. Don't worry, everything's fine. That weekend, I followed my usual routine of putting it in the CD player and driving around with it playing. My first thought was "Hey! These boys are damn good!" You wouldn't believe some of the stuff that comes floating over the transom at TexasGigs HQ, but this one really stood out. They've got a real, down-home Texas-y sound immediately appealed to me. I don't want to use the term basic, but there wasn't a lot of flashy frippery to get in the way of the good music. Plenty of energy, too — I like that in a young band. They've got a couple of slow songs on the CD that I didn't immediately care for. I was in a mood for some good ol' honky-tonk stuff, and they dealt it out pretty good. The title track is a hilarious send up of a typical Texas honky-tonk Saturday night, where no matter what your daily grind is, every man is, in some small way, The King of Texas. We're chock full of self-esteem that way...practically have it running out of our ears. Another feature of this CD is some really good road songs: Roads are a River, 400 Miles, and North to Buffalo. That last is one of those slow songs that didn't immediately grab me, but it'd make a good late-night tear-jerker when you're out on the road and not in The Great Republic.