Pub-rock was pre-punk England’s (well…London’s) response to the prententious, bloated, geriatric and overly technical superstar rock of the early 1970’s. Though the scene was lauched by an American band desparate for work after being stranded in London while their recording deal collapsed (Eggs Over Easy), it’s greatest exponent was Brinsley Shwarz, which gave the world Nick Lowe. Other noteworthy names to emerge from the scene include Joe Strummer, Elvis Costello and Graham Parker, who came along rather late in the pub-rock game, but in plenty of time for punk and especially new wave.

The music was simple, melodic and upbeat, with an emphasis more on songs and an ensemble sound than on star frontmen and soloists. It was awfully infectious stuff, celebratory but hardly mindless party music, and on a good night a good pub-rock band could put fans back in touch with the spirit of the earliest rock ‘n’ roll while remaining totally contemporary.

Elizabeth McQueen, the irrepressible Austin-via-Little-Rock-and-DC singer is nothing if not spunky, and she and her band have pub rock down cold. That’s no small feat, because there were no female pub rockers to speak of, so it’s not necessarily easy coming up with the right songs to revive. But with her big, assertive voice, which she can ramp down when she need to, she transforms some of the best, combining sass and spunk on Squeeze’s “Annie Get Your Gun”, going tongue-in-cheek on Dave Edmunds “A1 on the Jukebox”, turning exasperated on Dr. Feelgood’s “That’s it I Quit”, and giving Eggs Over Easy’s “Home to You” an almost spiritual bent.

The punchy band does the rest, snazzing up Rockpile’s “When I Write the Book” with Horns and a great lickin’ stick guitar, or transforming Brinsley Shwarz’s title song from a light ska romp into gutsy rock. Ain’t so much as a whiff of nostalgia here, either, just eternal verities of good songs, good feelings and good times.

-John Morthland