Wily showbiz veteran Chip Taylor wrote Wild Thing and worked as a professional card sharp, but he never made a smarter move than teaming up with Texan fiddler Carrie Rodriguez. Rodriguez's playing is a vivid mix of square-dance swing and dust-raising hoedown, but she also has a voice that could lasso a mustang at full gallop. "Just a li'l Texas girl with big things on her mind," she sings in Extra, but you suspect she is a match for the grizzled Taylor. Meanwhile, the songs, written by Taylor, are superb: there are sprightly dance tunes, hanky-squeezing ballads (especially There's a Hole in the Midnight) and a foray into the metaphysical on Him Who Saved Me. Altogether, a rare ol' treat.
