The French Irish Coalition “Ten of Swords” 2022 (self-released) on CD because it only exists on that format (and streaming). We picked up their second album (the other: Pistols and Daggers 2010) this past weekend up at Mile of Music from the band. One of the many great things about Mile of Music is that every year we stumble upon a band we’ve never heard of for some random reason: this year it was The French Irish Coalition because they were playing a stage right before a band we wanted to see (Gloom Girl MFG, rockers from Nashville who are amazing but didn’t have any music to purchase). The description of FIC on the MoM app sounded like they’d be up our alley: “Howling slide guitar, booming drums and a live performance that won’t disappoint, this Green Bay based duo aims to make you question how two people can create this much sound.” Accurate!! Punk blues is exactly what The French Irish Coalition delivers: crashing drums via Travis Pashek  – he’s the Irish and also does some vocals, snotty vocals and Delta blues guitar (in the style of R.L. Burnside, plus Charley Patton who they credit as an inspiration in the liner notes of Ten of Swords. They also credit cheap whiskey) via Julian Routheaux – the French, obviously.  Since we had literally never heard of The French Irish Coalition before seeing them this past Saturday, I cannot accurately say what tracks they performed from Ten of Swords but I’m guessing they played a couple of my top picks: the album opener “Might Be the Devil,” “Change” and the title track “Ten of Swords” which has a great punk-reggae beat with a Kurt Cobain/Nirvana-like delivery.