Music Review: Joe Grushecky - American Babylon

When it comes to heartland rock, everyone's familiar with Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, and Tom Petty. And rightfully so: between them, they've defined the sound of that genre over the past thirty years, cranking out classic album after classic album throughout their formidable careers. But they are just the ambassadors of a style that many other talented musicians have experimented with, most without anywhere near as much recognition as they deserve.

Joe Grushecky is one such man: despite having garnered considerable critical acclaim, a devoted fanbase, and having close ties with Springsteen - the men are good friends and have performed and written with each other - he remains a relatively obscure name in the rock world. It's unfortunate, as his greatest albums can stand up with the best of any superstar you wish to name.

American Babylon is unquestionably one such great album. Recorded with his in-house band The Houserockers - think the E Street Band, with less sax and piano - in 1995, the same year Springsteen released his acoustic The Ghost of Tom Joad, Grushecky took the listener back to the classic heartland rock sound that Bruce hadn't really experimented with since a decade prior, on Born in the USA. The songs weren't as epic in scope, or as majestic in orchestration, as those on, say Born to Run, but they were honest-to-goodness, working-class rock songs - a commodity that had been in increasingly limited supply throughout the early '90s.

The album straddles the personal and political, like so many of the great albums. Acerbic, anti-capitalist opener "Dark and Bloody Ground" - in which Grushecky skewers those responsible for the plight of the Native Americans ("If Jesus was born in Kentucky, they'd've made him pay for nails [..] they pay you off in company scrip / and your life, it don't mean shit").

Yet it fades in to one of the most poignant "lost love" songs you'll ever hear, "Chain Smokin'", as Joe uses a series of simple conceits to indicate just how downtrodden he is - "since you went away, I can stay out, however late I want, I can watch all my favorite programs on TV" - before conceding that he still wishes to God that she "was here to bother me".

Article Author: Wesley Mead

Wesley Mead is a politics student from England. He spends far too much time and money on DVDs. You can catch up with a range of his content from around the Internet, including lists and articles, here.

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