Bush League All Stars

Old Numbers (Pop Narcotic)
by Nik Rainey

This is rock. Basic, unadorned, tobacco-chewing, cow-tipping, meat-and-potatoes Midwestern roots-rock. That’s not necessarily a condemnation – if I were in a redneck bar somewhere, the kind with chicken wire in front of the stage and a Confederate flag on the wall, Bush League All-Stars would be worth loosening my oversized belt buckle for. Hell, in that atmosphere they’d probably seem revolutionary. But I prefer a little more aggro in my twang than Old Numbers provides.

But if that’s your thing, you shouldn’t be disappointed. Produced by Bob Weston (Shellac, Volcano Suns), the drums have alt-rock energy and the guitar chords are solid enough to rest your drink on.

Vocalist/songwriter Dan Spurgeon has the kind of slack-jawed twang that generally gives me hives, but he is from Ohio, so I guess he has an excuse. And when they plow different soil, they’re at their best – “Dr. Fong” is a likably loose rewrite of the Ventures’ “Walk Don’t Run” (Surf music? From Ohio?), and “Pencilweight,” with its backwards intro, Weston’s insistent trumpet, and a neat Rolling Stones/ Pavement “ooh-ooh-ooh” chorus, is easily the highlight. If you pine for, say, post-Velvets Dream Syndicate or pre-’80s Neil Young, go for it, Bubba; all others need not apply.