ACL: Sunny Sweeney Yes, Vampire Weekend No

I think ACL has managed to squeeze all its country between noon and 3 p.m. today. Luckily Sunny Sweeney, a Longview native now based out of Austin, was part of it. Sweeney, a former improv comedienne, has a winning stage presence and a wicked way with a lyric. After the pure-dee honky-tonk of “Heartbreakers Hall of Fame,” she quipped, “We’re available for weddings,” and said happy birthday to her dad before admitting “I’m about to sing a song that’s going to embarrass him… his little girl wrote a song called ‘Drink Myself Single.'” Between that scathing two-stepper and the screaming redneck rock and frenzied Johnny Cash train beat of “Last Hard Bible” (and its sideways shout-out to Billy Joel’s “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant”), Sweeney and her band – who could have (and may well be) plucked straight out of Lola’s – have the chops, panache and charisma to make Miranda Lambert nervous. Click here for more…