The Krew, led by the award winning singer/songwriter Jhonny K, has teamed with Musik Radio Promotions (MRP) in plugging “To Hell With You”. The single charted in top 10 on the Euro Indie Music Chart and top 50 DRT.

The Krew is a wonderful jumble of contradictions and normally mutually exclusive ideas. They play a wonderfully rootsy brand of country but make it sound like the easiest commercial sell in the world. Their music is rooted in the old-school, old-time traditions of the country yet it sounds as fresh and up to date as anything you will find riding the airwaves. It’s country but it is also rock, it’s deft but muscular. They sound like the beating heart of Dixie itself, or at least its less sociable brother and they don’t even come from the South,

But that is enough about what they are not, what they are is the coolest thing to come out of the alt-country/Americana circuit in a long time and Smoke Rising, their fourth album is a raw, blues and bluegrass infused salvo of roots rock, sometimes raw and ferocious, sometimes groovesome and full of country swing, melodic but edgy, occasionally brutal but always honest. It swaggers along with a cool stride rather than rushes to get the job done and is filled with musical motifs and sonic signatures that would usually signpost a bands roots as being way south of the Mason-Dixon line. (As opposed to Salt Lake City!)

That said, there is nothing parochial going on here, this is universal music, music which takes in all that is good, solid, cool and deftly conceived about rock music. It takes its time, revels in groove over gimmick and the result is an awesome slice of powerful, purposeful and slightly predatory, prowling rock. It tips its cap to some iconic forebears, from Skynyrd to The Allman Brothers to The Black Crowes and from classic rock to alt-country cool, looks you in the eye and dares you not to dance. Go on…try not to dance.