Split Lip Rayfield

Split Lip Rayfield is a collection of bluegrass aggressors claimed as "local" by roughly 12 municipalities in 3 states, so it shouldn't be a surprise that the band has skipped the traditional path to local-legend status. The band has en-dured no acrimonious breakups or makeups and no personnel changes. There's not even evidence of onstage bickering, and there is no apparent strain caused by Kirk Rundstrom's experimenting with 73 permutations of the guitar solo. Still, the band has left fans clamoring for a new album for three years. Unfortunately, the quiet, careful Should Have Seen It Coming isn't entirely worth the wait.

The raucous band's songs are surprisingly low-key. Even "Redneck Tailgate Dream," a chin-up challenge to the truck-driving teens who clog the streets of Lawrence on a Friday night, seems tentative. The best surprise is the emergence of Wayne Gottstine as a songwriter. "Promise Not to Tell," his tale of an abuse victim's revenge, positively stings. "Just Like a Gillian Welch Song" is a country-moan classic. But it's also one of the few songs on the album that doesn't come with a needs-to-be-fleshed-out asterisk. Many of these songs -- from Rundstrom's "C'mon Get Your Gun" to Gottstine's string band blues on "A Little More Cocaine" -- could be nicotine-stained bluegrass nirvana. But on this album, they seem way too gentle.