Dead Rock West

No Depression magazine famously explained its area of interest as "alternative country (whatever that is)." The whatever part is still going strong, thanks to bands such as Dead Rock West, a SoCal ensemble that's primarily a collaboration between Frank Lee Drennen and Cindy Wasserman. The group's résumé includes stints as sidekicks for Grant-Lee Phillips, Mark Olson and John Doe, and it's the latter that Dead Rock West's insurgent brand of whatever-twang most closely recalls. Anyone who dug on the coed chemistry of Doe and Exene Cervenka during their X years will gravitate toward Drennen and Wasserman's close-knit harmonies. Though Dead Rock West occasionally takes a detour down Bakersfield way, the group's meat and potatoes is bar-rattling rock numbers with a bit of power-pop jangle thrown in to keep the boogans at bay.