Refreshing.  Simple.  Inventive.  Even more refreshing.

Those are the words that best describe Olav Larsen & The Alabama Rodeo Stars’ latest album, Love's Come to Town.  Larsen, the lead singer, has a strangely enticing Dylan-esque voice that perfectly fits his style of bluesy country music.

The first track – one of the best – is “May The Sun Always Shine.”  This song shouldn’t have worked.  The lyrics and concept are fairly redundant and slightly corny.  But with Larsen’s crooning and slow beating of a snare drum, the song comes alive.  Suddenly questionable lines like “May your wishes all come true / May you live out, all your dreams” transport you to a time when such simple lyrics were the mainstay.

And that is the charm of this 12-song album.  Larsen’s voice and the Rodeo Stars’ backing generate a feeling of old style country.  This album isn’t meant to be heard in a Toyoto or modern day SUV.  This is the type of music to be enjoyed emanating from a 1950s style car with a blaring radio and shiny metal grill.  Images of old highway signs and tall wheat grass come to mind when listening to the songs.

Larsen also is a master of understanding his strengths and subsequent limitations.  He knows his voice isn’t the best in the music business.  But that doesn’t stop him from putting his twangy vocals alongside a strumming banjo or pulsating bass.  He understands that his voice can work fine as long as it doesn’t stretch itself.  Therefore, the songs come off less like traditional country music, and more like folk songs.  This distinction might turn away some folks, but for others, like myself, it’s completely welcome.  This album screams of folk, from the lyrics (“Cause when you say jump, I’ll jump for you baby / When you say run, I’ll run for you baby / I’ll do anything you want me to / And you can call me a baby!”) to the beats.