There was a time when country music had less pop and a lot less sheen, reserved for honky tonks and dancehalls on the working-class side of town.  In today’s crowded music landscape, it’s become harder and harder to find traditional country acts.  The Broken Spokes are as pure as the genre gets. Built on the gospel of fiddle and steel guitar, this honky tonk six piece makes the kind of country music that would make Johnny Cash and Hank Thompson proud.

WThis album is so damn good. If you needed to select a country music album to shoot into outer space to represent country music to other civilizations, or bury in a vault so when humans blow themselves to smithereens there’s something to repopulate country music with, Where I Went Wrong would not be a bad candidate. It’s that virtuous, that country, and truly flawless in its execution where there’s not one sour note, one bad turn of phrase, one weak song, or flat solo. Everything here is *chef kiss* excellent cover to cover.

Meanwhile, if you need an audio representation of the textbook definition of what country music actually is in its purest form, Where I Went Wrong would totally work.  It’s a classic and traditional country album, but so dripping with present-day appeal from the passion brought to the music and the sincerity with which it’s delivered, it doesn’t feel dated at all. This album is beaming with enjoyment.” – Saving Country Music (FULL REVIEW)

“Over the last few months, there have been a number of releases that undoubtedly are worthy of the ‘hard-core country’ label accreditation. Houston’s The Broken Spokes are one such band and this album, WHERE I WENT WRONG, is testament to that. The ten track album is a mix of classic honky tonk songs and tailored originals that recall BR5-49 or Red Meat at their best. The songs are short, concise and on the nail. But most of all, from the first notes, you just know that this is an album that will make you smile, tap your feet and appreciate who the Broken Spokes are, and how enjoyable this album is on many fronts. It never outstays its welcome, but equally never wastes a second of its playing time in losing focus of creating the kind of music that the band and its audience are looking for – to dance to, to listen to or to drink to.

Perhaps The Broken Spokes should consider the subtitle of the next album to be “Where We Went Right”, because this album is an affirmation of doing everything right, from the vocals and instrumentation through to the original compositions and outside song choices.  – LonesomeHighway.com (FULL REVIEW)

“Best Band For Drinking: The Broken Spokes are one of Houston’s busier country acts. The gigs they take routinely have something in common – booze. Hooch. The sweet, intoxicating nectar of the gods. Whether they’re playing a brewery like 8th Wonder or a honky tonk like Whiskey River or big fests like the ZiegenBock Music Festival or Texas country music halls like the one in Gruene, there is going to be some drinking involved. The Spokes gamely match the action in these establishments with the perfect soundtrack for beer guzzlin’ and whiskey shootin’. They have some go-to songs for these spirituous moments, stuff like “Moved Into a Bottle,” perhaps their best-known song.

No band can make a career from simply trotting out tunes for booze hounds and barflies. These guys are all very gifted players who’ve previously pieced together a Houston Press – Album of the Year nominee and regularly draw sit-ins by and kudos from fellow Houston music folks, like Nick Gaitan and Vinyl Ranch. They can call up a vibe to fit the mood and if the mood calls for a drink or two, they’re the band for the job.” – Houston Press (ARTICLE)

“Some of the leading lights of Texas retro-country have split or faded, and the enduring diehards (Eleven Hundred Springs, Dale Watson, Two Tons of Steel, etc.) are hitting the point where their tributes to generations past are at least a generation old themselves. As long as there’s bar bands the torch never really drops, but if it ever does, Houston’s The Broken Spokes would be solid candidates to pick it up and run with it. There’s something transcendent about front man Brent McLennan’s clear tenor twang and off-handedly detailed songwriting approach riding atop the timeless honky-tonk chops of his bandmates.  It’s a bit like if Bruce Robison borrowed Wayne “The Train” Hancock’s band to rub some pilsner-soaked sawdust on his studied song craft” – Lone Star Music Magazine

“It might be hard to believe, but there was a time when country music was actually palatable. Growing up in the seventies, when a tug of war began between traditional country music, and the beginning of this new flashy crap we’re stuck with today; my favorite memories were catching small time country acts play honky tonks with my parents. For the longest time, it’s felt like those traditional country tunes and the style in which they were crafted would never return. Then, I listened to the new album from Houston’s The Broken Spokes and realized—-it’s back and this five piece is bringing it back in a big way. Throughout eight tracks, “The Broken Spokes” bring back traditional country music like it was meant to be played without copying anyone in the process.” – Free Press Houston

“Named after the South Austin dance hall that has drawn two-steppers like flies for a half-century — and successfully fought back hungry developers for the past decade — the Broken Spokes could have easily been plucked straight off that hallowed honky-tonk’s hardwood dance floor. These Spokes have been bringing their hardcore trad-country — served with generous sides of Texas swing and savory steel guitar to beer joints and dancehalls around the state for a couple of years, but have only recently released their first recording, a nifty little eight-song self-titled debut. It’s all worth a spin around the floor, but best of all are tunes like “Moved Into a Bottle,” where the wordplay is as sharp as the guitar licks.” – Houston Press

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