Album Notes

When SODAJERK singer and guitarist Bucky Goldstein's slide, twang and ramped-up recollections ring out over the group's highway rock 'n' roll beat, it's obvious that he's lived the kind of lifestyle he's singing about. But Goldstein knows that dwelling on depression ain't gonna do him or anybody else at the bar no good. What sets Sodajerk apart is how its rollicking, drunken slur gives a nod to country music clichés without becoming engulfed in them. In fact, these guys have more in common with the snotty disobedience and rowdy/sad songs of the Replacements, circa Tim and Pleased to Meet Me. That means they're cut from a similar tear-stained cloth as old-guard honky-tonkers Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell and Ernest Tubb. The real trick is rustlin' up those spirits in a modern context while making the music their own, and Sodajerk pulls it off.

Creative Loafing best of 2010 issue