Ocho offers up, in a fittingly numeric way, eight songs of inspired, rough hewn Americana and intelligent alt-country with just enough indie rock seeping though to keep things sharp around the edges. Collin Herring, a Fort Worth native now based in Austin, sometimes sounds like you might imagine early R.E.M. might sound if they'd been knocking around bars and clubs in Texas instead of Georgia: the guitars grind with an earnest kick on songs like "Seemed To Be" but at the dusty core there remains a more mystical, sun-baked pace and wide open space, the occasional steel guitar (from Herring's dad Ben Roi) and Lone Star drawl drifting in now and then for a shot and a beer and a reminder that the Texas roots still run deep.

Since his 2002 debut, Herring has become something of a welcome local staple in the Dallas/FW to Austin corridor while drawing some attention from the national press to boot. Newly released Ocho project continues his genre-blurring ways with an uncanny folk/rock meets alt-country blend and spare, intimate atmosphere. “I wanted it to sound like I’m just sitting in my living room,” Herring reflects. “I wanted something haunting and organic. It’s not country. It’s not rock ’n’ roll. It’s just Collin Herring. It’s music the way I wrote it.” And we like it. Recommended.

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 Collin Herring - "Seemed To Be" (from the album Ocho)

Collin Herring - "Little Aches" (from the album Ocho)