Speaking as a snob, Pete Werner nails it. The local singer-songwriter released his first album late last year to zero fanfare, and it was only thanks to a chance encounter with his drummer Shane Wilson that I got to hear Salvage at all.

Naturally, I figured I would listen to it once, hate it, and move on. Not so! Salvage didn't budge from the stereo for the whole of December. It's still there.

Here's what we know about Peter Werner -- pretty much nothing, except that the dude can write a motherlover of a song, dishing up light and nimble country rock somewhere between young Blue Rodeo and younger Steve Earle on this sparkling track.

If alt.country tends to be a little ponderous (and it does), Werner and his three-piece sound weightless on Salvage, goosing the twang with sunshine pop on tracks like "Time I Spent Away", and keeping their trad moments on the subtle side. Pedal steel and Hammond very lightly embroider "Trying to Love You," at least until it counts, and when "Shaken" threatens to hang around too long on a fleet but cliché shuffle, Werner throws in a great line about his "bloodshot, mugshot eyes," and takes a huge left turn into a chunky, insistent chorus.

If there's a model for this kind of thing, it's the Byrds, although we shouldn't overlook a strictly Canadian tradition, either (that's Jr. Gone Wild's "She'll Never Know" from the great, lost classic Less Art, More Pop album. CD reissue now!!!).

In total, there isn't a single duff track on Salvage. Werner makes it sound easy in a genre with a very thin line between heaven and horse-hockey, and a long list of casualties. Up is down in country rock; the Eagles spent an entire career getting it wrong, yet the Monkees did it in one glorious song.