Sound: Barroom soul-bearing sung in a lower register and with more restraint than you’d expect from the Pixies frontman. Though intimate and mature, the understated grooves keep things chugging along.
Note: The album was recorded in Nashville, contains three relatively obscure covers and features several contributions by session legends like Steve Cropper (Booker T and the MGs/late 60s Southern soul guitarist), Spooner Oldham (Late 60s Southern soul organist) and Anton Fig (best known as the drummer in Paul Schaffer’s band on Letterman)
Heavy Rotation track: “Strange Goodbye“
Medium Rotation tracks: “I Burn Today“; “Song of the Shrimp“; “Go Find Your Saint“; “Sunny Sunday Mill Valley Groove Day“
Recommended: To anyone who’d like to hear Frank Black challenge himself and succeed, and to anyone who likes rootsy, singer-songwriter rock with first class musicianship.
Grade: B+