Picture this: A band of women vagabonds twanging alt-country and a mix of grunge-tinged folk music in an almost circus setting. Sound a tad surrealistic?

Welcome to the wacky, wonderful world of the Santa Fe-based Dolly Ranchers, an alt-country trio (sometimes there are four of them) coming to Solar Culture Sunday.

To the surprise of no one who follows them, they've been hailed as one of America's finest groups of hobo musicians, a compliment They relish, given their dislike sticking to long in one place.

- Arizona Daily Star

Sarah-Jane Moody and Amy Bertucci can sing-On the Dolly Ranchers new CD, Escape Artist, their harmonies are sweet but edgy, with a little bit of kick-like the hot-sweet of jalapeno jelly. Marisa Anderson's lightning guitar is the perfect twangy background for a beer and a shot of whiskey. Rock-solid bassist Anne Cullerton holds it all together, keeping, as she says, "the honky tonk as tonky as can be," The band sashays through sets of good-hearted alt.country that combines Hee-Haw schtick with razor-sharp intelligence- At first their friendly, sometimes giggly stage presence masks their fierce musicianship, but it makes itself known pretty swiftly, in a cat-quick Anderson guitar lick or a yodel-y vocal leap. And then the next thing you know, you're stomping your foot on the bar floor and yelling "Yee-Haw" in spite of yourself.
(Jonanna Widner)

-Santa Fe Reporter

The fingerpickin', knee slappin', country-fresh tunes of the Dolly Ranchers transcend lots of boundaries, musically and otherwise. Combining bluegrass, mountain ballads, campfire sing-along and the "new country" sound with a healthy dose of contemporary attitude, this Santa Fe- based all-grrl band plays Saturday at the Front Street Pub. Marisa Anderson's intricate flatpick guitar (she also plays mandolin and banjo) carries the listener through the ornate melodies of songs that tell of tramps and hoboes, of traveling by boxcar through. The lonesome West with the sunset in front of you and nothing behind but memories-Sarah-Jane Moody's raspy, gravelly vocals and whistle stop harmonica echo the consistent thoughtfulness (and sometimes humor) of the lyrics and melodies. Upbeat bluegrass tunes with lyrics like "I'm too dunk to go home, too sober to stay, I'd like to be here, if you'd go away" will have you smiling and tappin' your foot, nodding in agreement to the simple sentiments expressed so clearly. It's the kind of music that sounds like it was written with a bottle of whiskey close at hand, at a country jamboree or hobo convention (where the women often perform). Not surprisingly, the band is on the road, where they prefer to be, this, time in support of its latest release, Ten O'Clock Bird.

-Santa Cruz Good Times

On the fringes of yuppie society travels an alternate society, made of latter-day hobos, loving anarchists, and hardworking circus performers. In this world, musicians do like every else: question everything and pick only what they really need from the information detritus that surrounds it all. Hence the Dolly Ranchers, named after little-kid candy but able to write songs that are fast and funny and real. If Kitty Wells was still around, she probably wouldn't approve of the road grit on their parasol, but Lydia the tattooed lady would toss back a pint and howl for more at the end of every song, These traveling gals play gritty folk that uses old-time finger style and fiat-pluckingstyles to reflect on their peripatetic life. Poet and Patriot; free; 9pm. (HS)

-Metro Santa Cruz

You can hear it on the new Dolly Ranchers' CD; the long distance driving, the truck stop coffee, the breakup and breakdown, love and the loss of it. The alt-country~ all-girt quartet 'has seen It all but somehow they remain fresh, as blooming- daisies with a sound caught somewhere between -Texas honky tonk- and high desert roots - New Mexico from where they hail. If Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard'- got drunk on whiskey and mated these four - fine girls might be their children.

-Santa Cruz Metro

Kind of a cross between patsy Cline and Patti Smith, but distinctly their own.

-Eureka Times Standard

Four reasons not to hate Santa Fe: Sarah-Jane Moody, Marisa Anderson, Amy Bertucci, and Anne Cullerton.

- Albuquerque Alibi

Turning country music on its ear, the Dolly Ranchers have been compared to everyone from Freakwater to Patti Smith. Hailing from the high desert of New Mexico, this all girl alt-country quartet create well-crafted ramblings on whiskey, passion, and the romance of the open road. The Albuquerque Journal rated the band's first recording, '10 o clock bird', as one of the top ten local releases of 2000, saying," Among the things that separate it from the new country rabble are a lovely sense of melody and great vocal harmonies."The group consists of Sarah-Jane Moody and Amy Bertucci sharing vocals, "twang that alternates between the gritty gravel and the sweet clouds", Marisa Anderson on guitar," lightening fast and sweet as a peach", and Anne Cullerton on bass, "putting the tonk back into honky tonk".