As the country combo Y’ALL, James Dean Jay Byrd and Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer bring banjos, mandolins, and sweet bluegrass harmonies to the big city. The hoedown-bouncy “God Bless New York City (My Big Apple Pie)” salutes the duo’s home in Hee Haw fashion—but that doesn’t mean the musicians have forgotten their roots. “Paradise” is a wistful reflection on growing up in the Midwest (“I want to hear my mother calling/See the pride in my father’s eyes/…That was paradise,” Cheslik-DeMeyer sighs). The tune nonetheless has a whimsical element: Byrd subtly employs “washboard/dog brush” percussion, much as he gently shakes a can of rice on the subdued, Housemartinesque spiritual “Gotta Be a Big Man.” On songs that call for an extra touch of irony, Y’ALL turns to its campy CowGirl Chorus, which provides a choir on “Gotta Be a Big Man” and uncynically shouts a list of all 50 states (in alphabetical order) on the hokey/patriotic “The Map of the U.S. of A.” Y’ALL finds new ways of singing the subterranean homesick blues, even on a tongue-in-cheek cover of Loretta Lynn’s “You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take My Man”; forced to choose between an idealized Heartland and a Manhattan-approved gay lifestyle, Byrd and Cheslik-DeMeyer manage to celebrate both. Y’ALL opens for Jumpin’ Jupiter Friday, Oct. 27, at 15 Minutes. The disc is available from the Local Music Store.