The Albuquerque Journal, 12/16/2005
Sin Serenade is a Little Bit Country
Kevin Hopper
We are all sinners. And if you're reading this column, you must like music. Those two concepts-- sinning and singing-- are the basis for a local band called Sin Serenade. Conceptualized and led by a man they call Lucky Donohue, the group is a throwback to a time when country music was the most rebellious form of music around. And though modern country music is far removed from those roots, it's exactly what Donohue seems fascinated by. Add to that a wicked punk rock sensibility and raucous, hell-raising lyrics and it makes for a band that Albuquerque hasn't seen in a very long time. Roughly hewn like a sport coat made of burlap, the idea behind Sin Serenade, which also includes upright bass player/vocalist Antonia Montoya, guitar and lap steel player Michael Henningsen and drummer Mark Armijo, isn't about high fidelity. The group recently released a self-titled five song E.P. that sounds as if the group is playing in the back of a pickup truck traveling down a country road. Donohue's vocals are tinny, scratchy and gravelly, Montoya's bass is plucked with abandon and keeping time is a snare drum that rattles like an angry sidewinder's tail. It's loose. It's live. It's reckless. And if you like your country music served on a paper plate, it's downright beautiful.
