In The Deep End With Brandon Flowers

Country crossover albums are nothing new. Notably in that long tradition, there’s Ray Charles’ Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, The Pointer Sisters’ Fairytale, and Cyndi Lauper’s Detour, and Bowling for Soup Frontman Jarret Reddick’s Just Woke Up. Ringo Starr cut his first country album, Beaucoups of Blues, in 1970, and has recently made two more with T Bone Burnett (ND feature). Then there's the Beastie Boys’ illusive, cult darling, Country Mike’s Greatest Hits and Lana Del Rey’s long-rumored country album, Stove, which is reportedly due out next January.

But lately “going country” has seemed more like a trite nod to a trend than thoughtful artistic expression. Brandon Flowers — best known as the frontman for the chart-topping, alternative rock band The Killers — is one of the latest famous musicians to try it out. His third solo album, THRASHER, sidesteps trendy clichés and showcases his earnest love for the genre’s tropes, history, and characters.

Country music is, to its core, a melting pot of cultures, and Flowers samples freely, nodding at Johnny Cash’s grandiose twang and pedal steel’s singular ability to tugs at the heartstrings. He pays tribute to sweet country waltzes, outlaw country’s characters, and the classic country and Western music he grew up with, which formed the foundation for his musical influences (however sonically absent they appear from his best-known work).

THRASHER unfolds mostly as a series of poignant vignettes about the heroes and villains of Flowers’ upbringing. The harmonica-driven “One of Us,” pays homage to his beloved, recently-deceased brother in law; the '90s country-tinged “Tiger’s Blood” captures the heady blend of masculine teenage insecurity and unbridled dreaming, as they only collide on the cusp of adulthood; the Bruce Springsteen-esque “Angel” details the unravelling of a promising future; and the weighty, eloquent, “Miss America,” showcases Flowers sings achingly (though slightly disconcertingly) from the perspective of a battered woman.