Drawing strong influence from music icons Gram Parsons and Marvin Gaye, the fifth album from Nashville's Lambchop is nothing short of a country-soul masterpiece.

At first listen, the pairing of Parsons, the acknowledged godfather of the modern alt-country movement, with Gaye, one of the most gifted talents from the famed Motown label, might seem to be an unlikely combination. But when it comes to Lambchop, there's precious little that isn't at least a little weird.

Until now, lead singer/songwriter Kurt Wagner and his rotating cast of musicians have focused on intellectual trailer-trash country by delivering occasionally profane, sometimes grotesque and frequently disturbing tales of suicide, sexual deviancy and insanity over pastoral layers of horn and string instrumentaion.

While this tradition continues on Nixon, there is a distinct '70s-style soul feel here as well. Take "What Else Could It Be?" in which Wagner assumes Smokey Robinson's trademark high-pitched vocal style to great effect. Elsewhere, Lambchop, borrows a page from Sly and the Family Stone in the gospel- and soul-influenced rave-up "Up With People."

In addition to the soul-fueled buoyancy of many of its tracks, Nixonalso contains some of Lambchop's darkest moments. "The Butcher Boy" details the suicide of a woman who takes her life because of an unfaithful companion, while "The Petrified Forest" is Lambchop's stab at brooding goth-country. The bleakness Wagner explores throught Nixonshould not come as a complete surprise, however, as we are duly warned on the album's opening track that something is amiss: "For all out massive brains .. It's painful and it's certain / That something's bound to break inside."

Lyrically, Wagner has honed his Hank Willliams-meets-William-Faulkner-over-a-bottle-of-Southern-Comfort approach to near-perfection here. His credo, as sung on "The Old Gold Shoe," seems to be this: "It's funny when it's not funny at all." Still, there is something uniquely Old South about the melancholy tones we hear: "Like painful Southern bliss / poured upon with caramel / and garnished with some crushed pecans."

Overall, Nixonis Lambchop's most auspicious and satisfying effort to date. Laudable for it slightly warped perspective and its stylistically varied songs, it's an album that not only allows Lambchop to retain its title as Nashville's Most Fucked-Up Country Band but also places it as a legitimate contender to be among this year's best releases.

- E. Scott Hanson