With over half a century of hard roots-rabbling between them, Rosie Flores—the Rockabilly Filly, and Jon Langford—head Mekon, Waco Brother and conductor of the Chicago-based collective the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, blast a sonic contrail stretching from Texas to Wales, from the dusty hill country to the dusky fetter cairns. These two long-celebrated musical forces, one with her cowboy boots firmly in the dance halls and the other with his work boots sloshing around puddles of beer in the pubs, come together for Girl of the Century, an album of spirited and soulful romps through the back roads of American music.

Recorded live-in-the-studio hot with the Cosmos tackling their task at the knees, Girl of the Century simply crackles with effusive energy. Anchored by the crack rhythm section of Tom Ray (Neko Case, Devil in a Woodpile) on bass and Joe Camarillo (Waco Brothers, Dollar Store) on drums, the Cosmos find a groove and lock it in, be it the suave blues of “Chauffeur,” the Bob Wills smooth swing of “Little Bells” or the wild rockabilly of “This Little Girls Gone Rockin’.” Throughout, Pat Brennan’s stone-cold honky-tonk piano and John Rice’s count-in fiddle keep the boots firmly on the rail.