Album Notes

This unpretentious, easy-going CD reminded me of an album I reviewed last year by Eric Straumanis called Thunder and the Plains. This is in part because both recordings share a Bruce Springsteen-Steve Earle-Tom Petty point of view but it’s also due to the fact that they’re both on Trailer Records. The opening Brother Trucker track, “Bought & Sold,” has a very nifty verse: “Empty cans and Winston butts lay crushed around the car/As they left for the 7-11/Two burritos and a six pack and it’s back in the car/As they try to chase down 1987.” This is a perfectly described moment of trying to recapture one’s youth. It’s also one hell of a rocker that rolled over me like a wave I had no business trying to surf. “Knockin’ Em Down” is a swoony I’m-drinking-cause-she’s-no-longer-thinking-about-me song. Finally, “Dottie’s All Night Diner” is a tribute to a favorite dive café which claims “they got a forty cent coffee put a dance in your leg.” Come to think of it, a dance in your leg is exactly what Brother Trucker provides with their brand of small town stories set to a big town beat.

Tony Peyser - Santa Monica Mirror