Good Children exists as a vehicle for the songs of local singer-songwriter Michael Wilder, and his decision to record this debut EP live in the studio was a wise one—in retrospect, it seems kind of silly to spend a lot of studio time and polish on your shaggy-dog tales.

These seven songs don’t work too hard to establish their wry drunken bonafides (aside from the medieval Hogarth debauch that graces the cover of the CD, that is), but it’s telling that Wilder’s voice gets raspier and lazier when he’s describing the world at large, then suddenly switches into smooth-ballad mode when he’s trying to make a sincere and very personal point.

So it’s an act, but it’s a good one, pushed along as it is by an acoustic-based band whose mandolin, steel guitar and harmonica touches seem refreshingly natural, never like a bid for authenticity. Wilder doesn’t get within kissing distance of classic country, but the honky-tonk attitude is there, that weary and witty realization that the world’s a good joke and we’re all walking punchlines.

It’s nice to see that the ass man of “Time Don’t Talk” can get all mushy in the next song over with a line like, “Maybe it’s a dirty old fucked-up world / Won’t you be my girl?”