Reared where the Mississippi Delta meets Memphis, Cory Branan is an underrated, punk-assisted alt-country singer-songwriter sporting a touch of the blues. At least he's benefitted from guesting Lucero's "Sweet Little Thing" and Ben Nichols returning the favor on both of Branan's records. Equally adept at wearing his heart on his sleeve via bedroom folk ballads as he is mashing the pedal to the floor on rowdy barroom rave-ups, Branan's heartfelt, detail-driven tunes are at once intimate, honest and a bit humorous, with a way of getting ingrained in listeners' heads that seems unintentional but unavoidable. With Red Collar's J Kutchma. —Spencer Griffith