The soul of rock 'n' roll is alive, kicking and currently possessing the bodies of the By Your Side Robinson brothers. Since 1990, the sibling songwriting duo of Chris and Rich Robinson has been causing a ruckus with their mix of Southern-fried rock, whiskey-soaked blues and soulful Archivgospel. While the Georgia-based band's two previous albums found them experimenting with more complex rhythms and long, winding, cannabis-fueled jams, By Your Side, the band's rfth full-length, is a return to the driving rock 'n' roll the Crowes championed on their early recordings.

The album is an ass-kicking rock rodeo of gravelly guitar riffs and bluesy chord progressions, repaving paths previously tread by the Stones and the Faces. Lazy slide-guitar textures, harmonica moans and choirs of soulful singers litter the background, but Chris Robinson's gritty, cocksure vocals blaze the trail, whether the band is kicking up dust with a down-home, groin-grabbing jam (as on "HorseHead" and the title track), or letting all the dogs loose in a flurry of hell-raising, honky-tonk fury ("Kicking My Heart Around").

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