One thing I love about The Ditty Bops is that their music sounds exactly the way their name implies: swinging alternative folk with acoustic guitar and mandolin, with breezy harmonies.  (Several songs get additional help from drums, pedal steel, piano, strings, and the like.)  In less genuine hands Moon Over the Freeway would either be too saccharine to stand or played for ironic hipster laughs, but The Ditty Bops are charmingly sincere.  From the rollicking ragtime of “Angel with an Attitude” to the wistful “It’s a Shame,” Moon Over the Freeway manages the tightrope walk between cute and infectious without ever lapsing into gimmickry.  Really, there isn’t a dull spot on the album.  Bonus points for covering “Bye Bye Love.”

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