Guitarist Bill Davis calls Pay Dirt Dash Rip Rock’s “make or break” record. After 13 years of manic shows, a grueling tour schedule and enough brushes with stardom to give them blisters, Davis, bassist Ned “Hoaky” Hickel and drummer Kyle Melacon are ready to cash in or cash out. If Pay Dirt doesn’t hit pay dirt, Davis and Hickel have said that Dash will most likely curtail their national touring and focus on local and regional gigs.

What’s surprising is that on their eighth release, the grizzled Dash sound more alive and energized than they have in years. It’s as if they have a renewed purpose, which they do.

Dash has largely abandoned the hard rock, punkabilly and song parodies of recent years in favor of a triumphant return to their countrified pop roots. Guitars jangle, drums crack and melodic hooks abound throughout, suggesting early REM and Rank and File but also with a decidedly Beatlesque twang. Tracks like the jangly “She’s Got A Lot of Nerve” and “Call Me When You Find My Number,” which you’ll find yourself humming after one listening, have the feel of early Dash standouts like “Lisa” and “Buried Treasure.” “Anchor Me” has a Fab Four ring and “The Best Reason to Leave” has a great chorus. Best of all is “Markers Down,” a lovely, bittersweet ballad that shows off a more mature Davis, a poignant melody and great fiddle accompaniment. It’s the direction Dash should continue toward.

Another factor in the Dash revitalization is producer Fred LeBlanc, who applies his power pop wizardry with uniformly positive results. Every extra guitar hook, harmony and background vocal bears the stamp of LeBlanc.

The Dash of old does turn up to thumb its nose a few times, most notably in “False Prophet,” in which Davis disses messianic rock and rollers like Bono (as well as colleagues Kevin Griffin and LeBlanc). “Clown Down” is a crunchy garage rock cover of the Flies, but two older standards, the nasty “String You Up” and Marty Robins’ “Singin’ the Blues,” sound out of place among all the jangle.

Like 1996’s Get You Some of Me, Pay Dirt boasts an excellent collection of songs but could still benefit from a bigger sound. LeBlanc does a fantastic job tweaking sounds and adding instrumentation, but the overall sound is still lean. With a fuller sound, Pay Dirt might stand a better chance of hitting the real pay dirt Dash is after, but it should still open quite a few doors for one of the greatest rock bands in New Orleans’ history.