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Bluesy, twangy, rocking, rootsy, and organic, with plentiful mandolin, dobro and accordion alongside the electric guitars, the latest offering from BURRITO DELUXE is enough to restore your faith that real music – that is, great songs played and sung with soul, feeling and conviction by top-notch singers and musicians without undue concern about demographics, focus groups and the like – is still being made. The acclaimed band’s new CD, DISCIPLES OF THE TRUTH, will be in U.S. stores Feb. 27, 2007, on Luna Chica Records, with national distribution through an exclusive agreement with CBuJ.

DISCIPLES OF THE TRUTH, produced by Greg Archilla (Matchbox 20, Neil Young, Santana), is the third album and strongest to date from BURRITO DELUXE. Not flashy or trendy or gimmicky, not rooted in the past nor catering shamelessly to purists, the project is a diverse and lively gumbo of classic country, blues, juke joint and good American roots music from a seasoned group of musicians who’ve been making great music for years in various bands. It’s a confident and freshly energetic step forward for a band with, in the words of one member, “a new sense of what each member could bring.”

BURRITO DELUXE is Carlton Moody on lead vocals, acoustic guitar, banjo and mandolin; Walter Egan on electric guitar and vocals; Jeff “Stick” Davis on bass and vocals; Richard Bell on piano, organ, clavinet and accordion; and Bryan Owings on drums and percussion. Together they create a sound at, at various times, calls to mind such forebears and contemporaries as The Byrds (with and without Gram Parsons), The Band, Tom Petty, the Amazing Rhythm Aces and the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

All-star guest musicians include band patriarch, the late “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow, whose pedal steel magic graces several of the tracks; the session earlier this year turned out to be the final studio appearance for Kleinow, who passed away on January 6, from complications with Alzheimer’s disease. Other notable guests are Cindy Cashdollar, Mike Daly and Al Perkins on steel and Dobro; Daniel Dugmore on steel and banjo; Barry “Byrd” Burton and Richard Ferreira on guitars; and percussionists Craig Krampf and Rick Lonow (a former band member), while background vocals are provided by the likes of Joy Lynn White, Rick Schell and Blue Miller.

BURRITO DELUXE contains several talented songwriters, and they contribute several songs to the album. The opening cut, “Out Of The Wilderness” (Bell, Colin Linden, Jim Weider), rides swirling accordion and Dobro atop an emphatic two-step, almost Cajun beat in the verses. “Front Row Seats To Heaven” (Moody, Rob Crosby, Craig Karp) celebrates a Smoky Mountain lovers’ getaway. “On A Roll” (Egan, Rick Schell), featuring lead vocals by Egan, would be a smash for Tom Petty. “Encino” (Moody, Crosby, Karp) calls to mind a Marty Robbins outlaw ballad set to a loping country beat. “Wrong Side Of Town” (Moody, Davis, Bell, Egan) is a melancholy masterpiece.