Review of The Ones that Look the Weirdest Taste the Best by John Patrick Gatta. An excerpt:
Gans tackles the downturn of the working class, romantic bliss, organically-grown food, and resisting the haters in the name of God. What it lacks in strength, Gans’s voice makes up in a slightly grizzled been-there-seen-that wisdom. That aspect to his tone comes especially handy on “An American Family,†the opposite of the wide-eyed enthusiasm embraced on “Down to Eugene.” The song chronicles those still trying to find their way to the American Dream. While the majority of The Ones That Look… revel in a rootsy atmosphere, this is the closest to a jam track that expands the basic structure before making a soft landing and returning to the next verse. The acoustic sounds are also gently nudged in subtle electric directions with the lap steel and loping pace of “Headin’ Home Already, which gives the tune a New Riders of the Purple Sage feel. Likewise, the yearning “Autumn Day†bears influence from Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, with an Americana-meets-Los Lobos soundtrack.