April 21, 2014

Music Review: “Undefeated” by Bobby Bare Jr.’s Young Criminals’ Starvation League

The alt-country singer releases an ambitious hybrid of down-home and epic pop sounds.


Bobby Bare Jr.’s Young Criminals’ Starvation League
Undefeated
Bloodshot

Bobby Bare Jr., the offspring and namesake of one of the greatest country crooners of all time, has forged an intriguing and consistently unpredictable career of his own since the late ’90s, exploring rootsy rock, alt-country, and singer-songwriter styles with witty verve. Undefeated finds the likable troubadour crafting a tantalizing hybrid of down-home and epic pop sounds, and reflecting on romance, betrayal and heartbreak in ambitious yet rough-hewn tracks like “If She Cared,” “My Baby Took My Baby Away”, and “As Forever Became Never Again.” As always, the key is Bare’s ruefully eloquent voice, which finds a humorous undercurrent in the most woeful situations.

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