The Deslondes planned to take some time off after touring in support of 2017's Hurry Home, but the break ended up being longer than they expected. First Sam Doores cut a solo album (2020's Sam Doores) and Riley Downing followed suit (2021's Start It Over), then COVID-19 left everyone stranded with nowhere to go for a while. Inactivity finally got to the Deslondes, and they got together at their favorite bar in their hometown of New Orleans for a series of songwriting and rehearsal sessions, taking their new songs into the studio to cut their first album in five years, 2022's Ways Means. The finished product sounds like the work of some longtime friends who are having a great time hanging out after not seeing each other for a while, but it also suggests the guys had been doing some thinking while life had them otherwise occupied. Ways Means contains all the ingredients that made the Deslondes' first two albums so pleasing, and their laid-back but heartfelt mix of country, blues, vintage soul, and Southern rock -- not too loose and not too wound up -- still satisfies in the same ways. The musicians have also added a few new instrumental flavors to the formula: flute, saxophone, electric piano, synthesizers, and strings pop up in the arrangements, stretching the boundaries of their rootsy sounds. Ways Means feels a little bit baked instead of a wee bit drunk, like their previous LPs, though it certainly works for this music, and adds to the "older and just a little bit wiser" outlook of the songs. The album manages to sound world-weary and nostalgic about the wild days on the road at the same time, and it's a mood these players can pull off with aplomb, especially when Downing brings his big, weatherbeaten voice to the forefront. (Doores' more approachable singing is also in fine shape, especially on the title track, where he's joined by Margo Price.) Some records want to re-create the sound of a rowdy honky-tonk on a Saturday night; Ways Means instead captures the sound and feel of a bunch of good friends hanging out around the fire in the backyard, only with a diverse array of musical instruments at their disposal, and the music is a smokey, sweet reminder of how good a feeling that can be. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

1		Good to Go
2		Five Year Plan
3		Ways & Means
4		South Dakota Wild One
5		Consider Me
6		Howl at the Moon
7		Home Again
8		Wild Eden
9		Standing Still
10		Dunes
11		Tomorrow Morning
12		Bound by Love
13		Sweet Release
14		Hero