Despite a name suggesting that they might have formed between shifts on an Alabama cotton farm, Southern Tenant Union are a London-based sextet. Their diverse makeup and wide experience (Pat McGarvey is a former Coal Porter, guitarist Pete Gow has played with Chris Mills and Caitlin Cary) is reflected in their sound — which, though dogmatically conjured from acoustic instruments, roves a broad sweep of country, bluegrass, gospel and folk. STFU are no mere pastiche-mongers — the songs on this, their debut album, are smart, literate and occasionally very funny. "Sweeter Times" and "Green-Eyed Girl (From Louisville)" are sprightly dust-ups borne by Oliver Talkes 'gently tremulous vocal, and the two "Southern Tenant Folk Theme" instrumentals evade charges of self-indulgence through sheer virtuosity. Pete Gow's Iraq lament "Mosul Waltz," which recalls the Pogues 'version of Eric Bogle's "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda," is wrought from hard-won wisdom — Gow, when not playing in the band, works in the Baghdad bureau of CBS.