Ex-Stray Cat Lee Rocker took a long break from rockabilly when he formed second post-Cats outfit, a blues-oriented band appropriately titled Lee Rocker and Big Blue. So for the former Leon Drucker's first album on Chicago's Alligator Records, you might expect him to delve even deeper into the blues. Instead the slap bassist returns to his hard-core rockabilly and roots-rock days on this high-energy outing.

Along with a minor-key reading of the Stray Cats' signature tune, "Rock This Town," and an elastic, bouncing-off-the-walls rendition of "Running From the Hounds," first done by his late '80s group Phantom, Rocker & Slick, he puts the pedal to the metal with "Funny Car Graveyard" and "Race Track Blues." (OK, he gets extra points for a horse racing tune, but loses them with his reference to nonexistent "Sarasota Springs.")

Rocker's Alligator affiliation represents a deviation for the houserockin' blues label, but his commercial appeal makes his a valuable commodity during tough times for all the indies.

Jeff Johnson