The Bottle Rockets

Lean Forward

Bloodshot Records

When you’re searching for America in its rock & roll, it’s smart to go to the middle of the country, far away from the coasts, and find a band that works every night and stays out of the limelight except for almost accidental forays into the prying eyes of the media. What you would likely find there, if you got lucky and used your brain, would be the Bottle Rockets. They’re a mainstay of the Americana crowd, sure, but in a lot of ways their music goes beyond that into a lot of other different bags. Their sharp-edged sound sweeps from Lynyrd Skynyrd to The Band, with stops in between for Creedence, the Rolling Stones, the Replacements and several other titans. That’s about as big a compliment as can be given in 2009, and this band has earned every inch of it. Luckily, Lean Forward is the best album they’ve ever made. That might be because what is happening to this country right now hits hardest where the band calls home: the shrinking working class that’s drowning on dry land. From the hopeful velocity of “The Long Way” to the despair of losing a young neighbor in “Kid Next Door” to the down home beauty of “Get on the Bus,” the Bottle Rockets have a first-hand view of what their friends and neighbors are getting hit with every day, and have turned those realities into a small masterpiece of compassion on these dozen songs. Of course, there’s also plenty of hope to be spread around, and the way the band balances the up and the down shows they’ve got poetry in their souls along with a Midwestern pragmatism that will likely get them through anything. Producer Eric “Roscoe” Ambel, who worked with the band on previous gems, has a way of perfectly capturing their strengths, blending razor-sharp lead lines into a bottom sound that’s built like a tractor. The Bottle Rockets are a beloved bunch and have earned our devotion, and now it’s time do the right thing and pay it forward for them.