Conscious Contact in Bloomington, MN

Sounding across between
Dire Straits
and
Bruce Springsteen
,
Jerry Joseph
's
Conscious Contact
somehow falls safely under the umbrella of
roots rock
while remaining thoroughly modern sounding. While
Joseph
over-emotes from time to time, his songs brim with a defiant earnestness. The former
Little Women
vocalist is again joined by bassist
Junior Ruppel
and drummer
Brad Rosen
, as well as a sizable crew of special guests. Produced by
Widespread Panic
bassist
Dave Schools
, the album features appearances from some of
Schools
' bandmates,
Michael Houser
Todd Nance
(both on
"The Fastest Horse In Town"
), as well as other
Southern roots rock
luminaries, such as singer
Vic Chesnutt
, producer
John Keane
, and pianist
Chuck Leavell
. The vibe of the disc is stripped down, with a dry production comparable to
Kevn Kinney
Broken Hearts and Auto Parts
: pedal steel and acoustic guitars create a bed for fuzzily jangling electric instruments. Lyrically,
dabbles in the usual
cliches -- "Taste the whiskey on your breath/It's as much as I can drink these days," he sings on
"Pure Life"
-- but manages to pull them off convincingly, perhaps because he fleshes them out with decent narratives. Much of the material veers toward muscular near-
arena rock
, and the band reveals their shortcomings when they push too hard in that particular direction. ~ Jesse Jarnow