Li´l Cap´n Travis

With lyrics pokin' fun at Texas music and a sound like a psychedelic garage band with killer steel guitar, Austin's trippy Li'l Cap'n Travis is a dream substitute for all those pretty boys pouring their hearts out on MTV after midnight. Travis' latest album, ...In All Our Splendor, is packed with bleary-eyed barroom ditties and slacker portraits as far removed from Jerry Jeff Walker and Pat Green as it gets in this genre. Li'l Cap'n Travis' droll delivery and punch-drunk arrangements mask a deceptively smart concept, one in which the sum is considerably greater than the parts--hardly surprising for a band hip enough to pen a beer stein full of clever observations like "Everybody needs a partner 'cause this world can be so cruel/But it ain't in my nature to nurture a natural fool." The band is joined on Friday by local favorites I Love Math, Sorta and Salim Nourallah.