Todd Fox
The Bottle Rockets
South Broadway Athletic Club
Bloodshot
Utterly familiar yet amazingly fresh on every album, Brian Henneman and company have made loose-jointed, empathetic roots-rock for more than two decades. South Broadway Athletic Club ranks among their best. Spiritual cousins of Drive-By Truckers, with less tragedy and more wry humor, this lovable St. Louis quartet honors people who don’t merit headlines, including the auto worker with a bad attitude (“Chrysler”), the dude with a canine best friend (“Dog”) and someone whose idea of a good time is wasting time (“Big Fat Nuthin'”).
The Bottle Rockets’ nimble mix of boogie, blues, and country provides the perfect setting for Henneman’s twangy everyman vocals. He’s been one of pop’s more underrated singers for a long time, but it’s never too late to get on the bandwagon.
