Esquela recorded "Are We Rolling" live over the course of three days in a Tijuana brothel, once occupied by Charles Bukowski and Jack Kerouac, along with Eric 'Roscoe' Ambel, a Tascam 8 track recorder, the Bovina Rock Primer, 11 bottles of tequila and an ounce of pure Columbian "mother of pearl" shale. Well, actually none of that is even remotely true, (except for the Eric 'Roscoe' Ambel part), but this album is so cool it deserves a story that resists the every day mundane description of recorded at blah-blah studios, by a guy that recorded with so and so...you get the picture. Actually I have no idea what the specifics were that went into the recording of "Are We Rolling" but the end result cries out for something bigger than the typical "one-sheet" shuffle. Truth be told, a lot of what's going on today in the "Americana" world is pretty contrived. When something appears to be gaining ground on the commercial front the "shape shifters" line up and mold themselves into the "flavor and sons" of the month. Problem is, even the biggest Americana records aren't leading to guitar shaped pools and tour buses full of groupies yet, so for god's sake people, be yourselves and just make music that's real or at least really yours. That is right in 'Roscoe' Ambel's wheelhouse. Come ready to play, be yourself and he'll twist the right knobs to make sure you don't leave with something that feels like you picked it out of a magazine in the waiting room and said "make me that. So, back to Esquela. "Are We Rolling" is the sophomore effort from the Binghamton, NY based band and it teams up the same basic cast of lead characters as the debut "The Owls Have Landed." Ex Georgia Satellite Keith Christopher (guitars) and Esquela founder John "Chico" Finn (bass, vocals) once again brew up a mix of honky-tonk melody laced with truck stop diesel energy and Gypsy-punk harmonies that all wrap very neatly around Rebecca Frame's "cooler than snake oil" sales pitch. Rebecca Frame makes me wonder what an early Grace Slick might have sounded like through a cow-punk filter. Like all the old time Gypsy wagons, Esquela opens the doors to stragglers found along the way and newcomers to the show this time around are drummer Todd Russell and guitarist Brian Shafer with twang provided by Ira MacIntosh (guitar and banjo) and Matt Woodin (guitar and mandolin). All of that and the keen guidance once again by one of the truly original and honest production voices out there, Eric Ambel, and the second helping of Esquela is just as tasty and goes down just as easy as the first. That said, this is a serious album from a band that comes out swinging on subjects ranging from politics and labor to war and religion with lyrical sting and roundhouse punches at both the left and right side of greed, hypocricy and immorality. They aren't marching in lock step with anyone but themselves and their own drum beat and you have to love that about any artist. Is this "every-note-is-perfect, overdubbed-to-infinitum, cookie-cutter-Americana-bullshit?" Um, no...it's more say, let's write a bunch of cool songs about the world around us and record an album like we play live; raw, full of emotion, human imperfection and most of all "don't-take-yourself-so-fucking-serious," like music is supposed to be. Bottom line, this is how to make an album folks. Be real, be honest, say something substantial and don't pretend to be something you're not. Now if the Americana music scene at large would only take notice.