Heartless Bastards scale lyrical 'Mountain'

Photo by Cambria Harkey, Cambria Harkey

The Heartless Bastards, Jesse Ebaugh (left), Erika Wennerstrom and Dave Colvin, release their new CD, "The Mountain," Tuesday.

In the fall of 2007, Erika Wennerstrom, the singer/guitarist and songwriter who is the principal creative force behind the gritty rock trio the Heartless Bastards, picked up and moved from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Austin, Texas, leaving behind her ex-boyfriend of 10 years, her critically adored band, including the aforementioned boyfriend, and the state she had called home her entire life.

"After the breakup it was just hard because we had all the same friends," says Wennerstrom. "I have family in Austin, and friends I've met through the years of touring, and I'd already decided to work with Mike McCarthy on the new record and his studio's there, so there were just so many reasons to make the move."

Photo by Cambria Harkey

The Heartless Bastards, Jesse Ebaugh (left), Erika Wennerstrom and Dave Colvin, release their new CD, "The Mountain," Tuesday.

Newly settled in Texas, Wennerstrom began to write, admittedly throwing herself a little too eagerly into the Austin nightlife when composing became too tough a slough. After six months, however, she emerged with a soaring set of songs about relationships, learning to rebuild your life, and the death of the American Dream.

On Tuesday, Oxford, Mississippi's Fat Possum label releases the resulting album, The Mountain.

On Friday the Heartless Bastards play the Young Avenue Deli.

Produced by McCarthy, himself a former Cincinnatian relocated to Austin who is best know for his work with Spoon and And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, The Mountain is the Bastards' third album, and already it is receiving rave reviews. Rolling Stone's online blog "the Smoking Section" dubbed the title track "the Best Song In the World." Entertainment Weekly's Web site made it staff pick, and Spin recently gave it four stars, calling it a "rousing rock 'n' roll that'll leave you aching for a roadhouse, a sticky bar stool, and a chipped glass of bourbon."

"I'm happy because I didn't know how people were going to respond to it," says Wennerstrom from Austin. "Nothing is ever going to be everybody's cup of tea, but I'm glad it's some people's cup of tea."

Wennerstrom grew up in Dayton, Ohio, a town whose blue-collar sensibilities provide much of the grounding for The Mountain. Dayton also gave the young Wennerstrom her initial music motivation as she watched homegrown indie rock heroes like the Breeders, Guided by Voices, and Braniac break out onto the national scene.

Though she secretly harbored music aspirations, Wennerstrom did not pursue music in her adolescence much beyond the choir in her Catholic junior high school.

It wasn't until Wennerstrom was 18, a high school dropout working in a sub sandwich shop, that she decided to put her energies into music. After getting a few friends to show her some bar chords, she taught herself how to play guitar by writing songs. When she turned 22, she moved to Cincinnati and joined her first band playing bass guitar. In 2003, she formed the Heartless Bastards.

From the start the band played dark and heavy bluesy garage rock with Wennerstrom's remarkable voice, a deep, throaty mix of Lucinda Williams and Grace Slick, front and center. That basic approach continues on The Mountain but with added instrumentation including mandolin, banjo, strings, and, to soaring effect on the title track, pedal steel guitar that add extra texture to the material, which is already deeply layered.

"I realize some of the songs are about the relationship even though they don't really appear to be," says Wennerstrom of the double meanings that litter The Mountain's lyrics.

Now with momentum building behind the new record, Wennerstrom is preparing to hit the road again. After making The Mountain with session musicians, she has put together a new version of the Bastards featuring fellow Ohio expat Dave Colvin (himself a veteran of an early version of the group) and Jesse Ebaugh. The trio is hitting the road for a long tour that includes a stop Feb. 10 on "The Late Show with David Letterman."

"It'll be our television debut other than a local San Diego new station thing called "Fox Rocks" but this is a lot bigger than that," says Wennerstrom. "I'm really excited, extremely nervous. I think it's going to be the most surreal thing I've ever done.

The Heartless Bastards

Friday at the Young Avenue Deli, 2119 Young Ave. Doors open at 9 p.m. Admission: $10. For more information, call 278-0034 or visit youngavenuedeli.com. To go to the group's MySpace page, click here.

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