Rodney Parker & 50 Peso Reward is one of the most intriguing and insurrectionary bands to come out of the Texas music revolution since Steve Earle or the Old 97s. Shaking off the norms of the modern Texas music establishment, Parker & the Pesos take a more radical approach - a sound that is not any more southern rock than Steve Earle, and not any more outlaw than Robert Earl Keen. Like Earle, there are no plinks in their guitar riffs, the sound moves like a heavy motor across the strings. One writer called the Pesos the band that "Just might kick Old 97's in the teeth", and another called the Pesos "Weezer meets Waylon". This may be the best rock band country music has to offer. Parkers songs are more introspective and respectful of consequences than the songs of many of his country music peers. Clever and intelligent, Parker is reminiscent of Butch Hancock, a brusque and less tragic version of Slaid Cleaves. While Parker and the Pesos found regional success in Texas on the strength of their 2004 debut, Blow the Soot Out, the Denton, TX based quintet broke out nationally with their 2008 release, The Lonesome Dirge - a breath taking, often heart stopping album brimming with Americana Anthems, harrowing Southern Gothic balladry, and shit-kicking roadhouse rockers that channels the likes of Steve Earle, Son Volt, and even Dropkick Murphys at times. The Lonesome Dirge spent 17 weeks in the top twenty on the Americana Chart, and produced three top twenty singles on the Texas Music Chart. The band is poised to up the ante this summer with their third release, The Apology: Part 1, a five song EP which will be in stores nationwide September 14. The Apology: Part 2 is currently in production and is expected to be available by Spring of 2011. If that isn't enough, the band also has a full length acoustic record, tentatively titled "Live at the House", due for release this winter. Rodney Parker & the boys have a stake in the say of the future of Texas music. This new generation of borderless musicians will no doubt steal the thunder of the status quo Texas sound, forcing the directions of popular Texas music onto a new, more substantial and satisfying threshold.