The Moaners

Who in tarnation is making all that racket, peeling out of the driveway and disappearing into the night? Oh come on, folks, you know that voice cackling from behind the wheel — once you’ve heard the unmistakable Mississippi drawl of Melissa Swingle, you just don’t just walk off and forget it. That voice owns everything it touches — from swampy, Southern rockers Trailer Bride where Swingle once mined the dark and gloomy road with the best of the No Depression crowd to her new Chapel Hill duo, The Moaners. With The Moaners, she’s ditched the dirges in favor of an Impala–trunkload full of rock, a cat named Squirrel and a cooler of Sparks tall boys (caffeinated malt liquor — and Sparks, if you’re listening, they’re waiting by the phone for a promotions deal). The newfound voltage relies in no small part on the pounding drum assault of Swingle’s shotgun-riding cohort, Laura King (who played in Grand National with Ed “From Ohio” Crawford of fIREHOSE).