Despite what one might expect of Ontario’s moustache rawk renegades, White Cowbell Oklahoma’s appearance at Germany’s so-called Hippie Festival did not go over like an infamous chicken-wire scene from a Blues Brothers movie. Rather, the beer-quaffing Krauts embraced the sideburn-and-Stetson sporting alt-cuntray Canucks with open arms.

Committed to tape at the Burg Herzberg back in the summer of 2006 and remastered in Toronto just this past fall, Viva Live Locos finds the incorrigible WCO right in the thick of things, sharing their audience’s affinity for good times and leather pants. Laying down the law with opener “San Antone,” these professional stagecoach tilters cut the reins and then boogie until the cows come home on the rambunctious “Cheerleader.” Putting The Supersuckers’ live recordings to shame, these Allman bros on acid incite their Bavarian brethren to “Put the South in Your Mouth” when Clem Clemsen, Hollis Cartwright III and The Sarge gravy up them biscuits with some pretty guitar picking and big Burton Cummings vocals. Meanwhile, drummer Dingo Van Devereux’s giddy-up snare and cymbal canter moves the proceedings steadily along the dusty trail.

Karl May would beam with pride as his countrymen soak up the Sunny-D dalliances of “Ole Glory” and thrill to the buckin’ bronco plunges and rolls of “(Tear You) a New ….” Most importantly, for an off-the-floor offering, the album’s amazing sound quality shines through on “Fly Away” and the tongue-in-cheek Dr. Hook “Cover of the Rolling Stone” singalong. Gritty ditties and old-school grinders informed by intuitive twang-tinged blues give Bob “Happy Trees” Ross a run for his money as WCO uses superior musicianship to paint a sienna sunset against a harmonica-hued backdrop.