Listening to this record is like spending a night at the Ponderosa Stomp. Along with a good sense of the personality of the band we get a history lesson at the crossroads of R&B, rockabilly and Louisiana rock ’n’ roll. The group is a sturdy unit built around the rockabilly rhythm section of Dave Maleckar on acoustic bass and Matthew Swiler on snare-heavy drums. Kenny Holladay is the main instrumental voice on guitar and pedal steel. Lead vocalist Ross Hallen accompanies himself on guitar and has help from several backup vocalists on harmony arrangements that ingeniously buttress his limited yet expressive vocal range.

The band makes the most of some clever and relatively obscure covers, starting with the driving “Slow Down,” a classic ’50s tune by the minor Sun and Philips recording artist Jack Earls, who wrote the song in his ’56 Buick Roadmaster. Maleckar’s slapback bass animates another vintage tune, “Stairway to Nowhere” by Al and Jo Ann Wingate, “Talkin’ to You,” and Hallen delivers a great read of Doc Pomus’ irresistible “Boogie Woogie Country Girl,” a metaphorically lascivious ditty about a hot country girl.

The Hellbenders searched the halls of Jay Miller’s Crowley, Louisiana legacy for a cover of Rocket Rodney Morgan’s Zym release “You’re Humbuggin’ Me,” a real Cajun stomper that gets Swiler’s best performance on the record. The crushing finale, “Snow Don’t Fall,” really captures the exquisitely wistful blues at the heart of Townes Van Zandt’s vision.

Hallen is a more than capable writer whose own compositions hold their own alongside the well-chosen cover material. “Southwind” is a spooky, atmospheric western swing tune with a clarinet interlace played by Nervous Dwayne that suggests a connection to traditional New Orleans jazz. “Waitin’ on You” and “Chicken Head” are both swinging rockabilly originals that give the band a chance to pack the dance foor, while “Nothin’ to Lose” is a doomy ballad that goes a long way toward explaining why Hallen chose to cover two Townes Van Zandt songs on the record.