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With Jim Waive at the helm, these criteria are met with complete satisfaction as he steers The Young Divorcees towards country music perfection.

Waive combines his no-pick, percussive style on guitar with some of the most compelling lyrics in honky tonk. His smoky voice delivers songs laden with fervor and heart. You can catch a glimpse of his Tidewater roots in the fire and brimstone melodies, and you can feel his love overflow for his Divorcees: Charlie Bell, Jen Fleisher and Anna Matijasic.

When Bell is not on pedal steel he's on bottleneck guitar and dobro, switching effortlessly between the fleet as needed. Born to a hard working Orange County, Virginia family, Bell has played music most of his life, including a long stint as a member of The Hackensaw Boys. An old-school, son-of-the-south, his ghostly notes waft from the pedal steel with a country confidence. His harmonies are traditional and tempting. His solos walk through the wall of rhythm put up by Waive and Fleisher.

Classically trained on piano, the Floridian Fleisher plays the bullfiddle with a passion. She is the Superball on stage. One would not think that so many notes could work on a Hank Williams cover song, but her grooves are infectious. She improvises through Bell's country gold, then supports Matijasic's refined and eclectic violin.

A native Virginian and classically trained as well, Matijasic plays "country violin." She accents Bell's lines with gypsy melodies burnished by a cowgirl's hand. Reminiscent of the fiddle/violin playing on Bob Dylan's "Desire", she is a velvet scimitar, slicing apart your conviction that country music fiddlers must have a "Fire on the Mountain" complex.

This band is a true country band that supports one another like a family should (without the dysfunction). Their beauty is subtle and very real. They are good musicians, all four. They carry on the American tradition of honky tonkin', beer drinkin', heart breakin' music with a down-home authenticity.

They are a country band to be seen and enjoyed, to be heard and adored.

-- by Critter Fuqua