NYT Texas Edition Live Pick – Beaumont!

The Gourds are the national band of Austin. Their junkyard sound crisscrosses the roots-music spectrum with a whacked-out, independent spirit. For their 10th studio album, “Old Mad Joy,” the fivesome recorded in Woodstock, N.Y., relinquishing production duties to Larry Campbell, an associate of Bob Dylan and Levon Helm. What you get is vintage Gourds with a coat of polish.

“It has the best of both worlds in that we are playing with a familiar passion to our live shows, but still all the parts are clear, present and well-placed within the arrangements,” said Kevin Russell, the band’s guitarist and co-singer-songwriter. “I don’t know that we have ever gotten it this perfect.”

The Gourds will play their first Texas show in support of the album in Beaumont, Mr. Russell’s hometown. You are not a diehard unless you experience Mr. Russell — the “Leadbelly” to his singer-songwriter counterpart Jimmy Smith’s “Lou Reed” — dispatch songs in the company of his aunts, uncles and cousins.

Courville’s, Sept. 22, 7 p.m. thegourds.com