Like their Hardly Art label-mates, The Duchess and the Duke, The Moondoggies are something of an anachronism — a band out of time that gains points for originality thanks to their unabashed lack of originality. Where The Duchess and the Duke look to the Rolling Stones for guidance, The Moondoggies turn to the southern blues and country-tinged rock of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

While many bands boast these same influences, none of them play it as straight as The Moondoggies do on their debut, Don’t be a Stranger. The band doesn’t use the countrified classics of old as inspiration so much as rigid boundaries. Occasionally these restrictions pay off, like on the flickering lament “Make it Easy,” which wrings a great deal of emotion out of Kevin Murphy’s world-weary vocals. But more often than not, they’re suffocating.

Don’t be a Stranger’s lack of ambition is its greatest drawback. It’s a revivalist throwback to an iconic sound, and an ably performed one at that, but nothing more.