Drivin’ N’ Cryin’

Alternating between gear-strippin’ blasts of paint-peelin’ riff-rock and gently weepin’ strains of folk ‘n’ country-flavored numbers, Atlanta-based trio Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ powered through its set Saturday night at Club Lingerie with an unpretentiousness that was all the more refreshing in light of the group’s considerable originality.

Augmented by a second guitarist, the airtight outfit showed it owed as much to the Allmans and Lynyrd Skynyrd as it does to R.E.M., the Stones and thrash-rock in general. Not all the tunes on the group’s recent “Whisper Tames the Lion” LP work--the boys cover a lot of ground on their major label debut for Island Records. But Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ has already found its own sound, albeit one that doesn’t fall into any comfortable niche, which may or may not bode well for the band’s success either down the road or up the tear duct.