I blame the Black Crowes. Southern-fried sort-of hard rock is certainly nothing new, but in the past 20 years, there's been a plague of bands aping the blandly Lite FM, countrified side of the Crowes, only - - for the most part - - with less ambition. Of course, the Robinson Bros.' legacy is NOT just glossless glam-with-slide guitar; they proved themselves to be more than just strummed G-D-C ballads. If only their imitators would.

Enough about the Black Crowes.

The Stone Chiefs are uniformed cadets of this genre, straight outta Carolina. Their debut album, "Drive On", is a competent entry in the non-Skynyrd/non-ZZ Top/non-Nickelblecchh annals of southern/country hardish rock. It's pretty much just inoffensive, straightforward, basic, guitar-driven bar-headliner stuff. "Drive On" is not all filler, however, there are some moments of sincerity and earnestness. The title track and ‘Close the Door’ are nice-sounding songs that the Stone Chiefs hope will get girls at the foot of the stage all dreamy-eyed.

I feel like I've been a bit harsh. I don't love this album, but the Stone Chiefs are not hopeless. There are some underdeveloped melodic instincts on display here. . . With a little ambition, they could rise above this modest beginning. And even if they maintain their status quo, their sound is generically accessible enough to find a small following from an undemanding audience.