The Angels are Lainey Balagia, Debbie Forrest and Libby Koch, all lovely ladies with contagious smiles and a talent for writing songs that contribute to a Houston Americana style that’s gaining momentum.

The band stands on the strength of the vocal talents and harmonies of all three members, but Debbie plays a nice rhythm guitar and Libby can flat lay it down on the mandolin as well as the six-string. The country influence might be the first thing to strike you from the initial impression. They certainly like to use the witty C&W play on words in their lyrics, but the jazzy Texas Swing and the down home blues influences raise their pretty heads throughout the production.

The opening number, “Second Fiddle”, strikes that Americana balance between country, pop and blues with a reference to Houston’s Kirby Drive. It features an excellent CW /bluesy fiddle lead by Eleanor Whitmore. “Western” is a Texas Swing recounting of a hard day at work that ended in an extended happy hour from a modern woman’s point of view. “Traded In” is a uniquely feminine view of emerging from a bad relationship into a world free of a man’s overbearing tyranny. The vocals had a definite Bonnie Raitt tone.

“Tell Me No Lies” features a wandering mandolin line with alternating harmonies, in a traditional hillbilly music style. “Sleepin’ Dogs” takes Texas Swing down a path of clever double entendre and witty word-play that earned it the position of being the disc’s first single. “Devil” is a country gospel tune haunted by temptation and featuring a fine fiddle/ guitar rhythm and melody that will put your hands together for you.

They girls slowed down to a straight ahead country ballad of growing up and finding one’s way in the world and in love with “Picayune”. Lloyd Maines breaks out the dobro with gusto for “Ain’t That Good”, another hillbilly anthem. The ladies found John Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery” a fantastic vehicle to exhibit the interplay of their voices in harmonies and leads. The ladies ended the disc with a beautiful production of the redemptive, “Come to the Water”.

One of the most impressive things about this trio and their first disc is that they share writing credit on every original tune and put them together relatively quickly. Often the first recording that an artist or group puts out is a culmination of years or even decades of writing, leaving little or nothing for the second recording. Those one hit wonders come and go too often. The Grievous Angels, on the other hand, strike me as a writing group that found synergy with each other. I sense a wellspring of new compositions from these ladies on the horizon. I plan to keep an eye on them.