The South isn’t exactly the first place one looks to for rousing anti-war, anti-corporation, atheistic musical rallying cries. That’s because Ethan Daniel Davidson, self-made singer-songwriter, is actually from Detroit, a fact which isn’t all too clear in this collection of faux-Southern rockers and mellow folk numbers. Davidson can pull off such dead-on imitations of bluegrass and mainstream country that at first it isn’t clear he’s not the real McCoy.

This talented quintet isn’t all about parody. Rather, they adeptly evoke a series of moods throughout the course of the album. The chorus on “Woman/Ladder = You’ll Get What You Deserve” is full of hooks, and when it’s coupled with the song’s soaring guitar solos, the group’s skills truly shine. “Drive-by Diplomacy Blues” features an organ and blistering guitar screeches in the best showing of eclecticism since the Reverend Horton Heat.

Alternating between rustic punk and soulful acoustics, Free the Ethan Daniel Davidson 5 merits a few spins from listeners looking for a trip down to the South that should have been.