Dove Hunter's not too big on instant gratification.

The 2-year-old Dallas band has done plenty of gigging, rehearsing and recording, but there hasn't yet been an album for fans to take home. That changes this weekend, with the release of The Southern Unknown .

Billy Surface

Dove Hunter is (from left to right) Quincy Holloway, Josh Daugherty, Billy Surface (in framed picture) Chad DeAtley and Jayson Wortham.

And, like the band, the new songs are all about the slow build. Unknown's nine tracks take musical cues from classic album rock of the '70s, and the guys are unapologetic about their propensity for jamming.

During a recent phone chat with lead vocalist Jayson Wortham and bassist/ keyboardist Chad DeAtley, the guys said they're shooting for a laid-back vibe at their release party Saturday at Double Wide.

"We're going to play the entire album and then some," DeAtley said. "But the way we see it, we want to have a Dove Hunter party. We want to socialize, to dance and to have our friends there playing, too. We're gonna treat it just like we're hangin' out."

Here's more from DeAtley and Wortham, both 36.

Q: Why not release an EP or album sooner?

DeAtley: Our first studio recordings ended up just being demos – all songs that would end up being on this album. We started recording this one in January of 2007, but it was pretty slow going. Mostly because of us. Plus, [producer] Stuart Sikes was still getting his studio together, so we pretty much had to take spots when we could to get it done.

Wortham: Yeah, his new studio took longer to get ready than planned, so there were other acts that had been booked with him that had to get their times in.

DeAtley: And, for some reason, Cat Power superseded us. [Laughs.] I don't understand that.

Q: How does songwriting work for you guys?

DeAtley: Jayson will bring in his parts – a skeleton of a song and his vocal stuff – and everything on top of that, we mess around with it. Even if it's a really pretty song that he brings in, we completely destroy it. [Laughs.]

Q: The first song on the album made me think that you guys probably like to jam a little, even though I probably shouldn't use the term "jam."

DeAtley: For some reason, that term has negative connotations.

Wortham: It shouldn't, though.

DeAtley: Well, it's because of Phish.

Wortham: And just jam bands in general.

DeAtley: But playing around with songs until we figure them out – that's pretty much the way we do things.

Q: I've found it difficult to describe this music. How would you describe it to a friend?

DeAtley: You're gonna hate this, but everybody that asks me that, I just go, "Oh, it's rock 'n' roll." [Laughs.]

Wortham: Yeah, I don't know what to say. I'm not good at that. It's rock 'n' roll; it's not too heavy.

Q: But it definitely has that Southern rock vibe to it, which perhaps explains the album title.

Wortham: We pretty much had the album title ready to go. Yeah, I definitely thought it would have that Southern feel. I actually wanted to have way more of that than it turned out to be.

Q: So what music would the band listen to, typically, if you guys are just hanging out?

DeAtley: For Jayson and I, I would say late '60s, early '70s. A lot of Stones, Beatles, a lot of Zeppelin. Just the typical stuff from that era.

Wortham: And Chad's always good about turning me on to new stuff, too, because I'm really bad. Not that I hate new stuff.

DeAtley: But it's more exciting to discover something from that era that we haven't heard.

Q: Are there any local acts with which you feel a kinship?

Wortham: Yeah, when we go out, it's just to go out and play.

DeAtley: Stumptone, Baptist Generals – there are a lot of bands that are not necessarily the same as us, but definitely fit in the same genre, or would go well on a bill with us. But we have so much going on in our music, that we could probably play with a lot of different kinds of bands on a bill and not seem weird.Dove Hunter

CD-release show, Saturday

at 10 p.m. at Double Wide,

3510 Commerce St. $5. 214-887-6510.