One Hundred Dollars — Forest Of Tears

Toronto's One Hundred Dollars — who count four former members of Jon-Rae & The River among their ranks — are a country band for the 21st century. That might sound really weird, but I say it because you'll find a bunch of subject matter that's both kind of wacky and contemporary on their Forest Of Tears debut.

Some of the things tackled include: sloppy, orgasm-less sex ("Careless Love"); lesbians escaping persecution ("Hell's A Place"); subway suicides ("No Great Leap"); neurotic miners' wives ("Fourteen Hour Day"); and a mother angry at her daughter because said child wants to both marry a woman and become a man ("Tirade Of A Shitty Mom").

Truly great country artists are capable of writing excellent "story songs" that are representative of their time period, and that's the case with every track here. The only real misstep is the aforementioned "Tirade Of A Shitty Mom," a strange, extended number that sounds more like psychedelic rock than country and seems out of place with the rest of the disc.

It will be truly unjust if Forest Of Tears doesn't make a bunch of year-end best-of lists.

Get it from