(Folk Rock, Alternative Country, Indie Rock) Eddie Spaghetti - The Value Of Nothing (2013), MP3, 320 kbps

Eddie Spaghetti grew up in Tucson, Arizona trying desperately to ignore the country music that floated all around him. Seems like every pick-up truck and storefront speaker was cranking out the syrupy wails of some heartbroken hick and he just wasn't having it. So, as a kid, he turned to Heavy Metal, then Punk Rock, to block out the noise and that's how his band, The Supersuckers, was born.
Formed in late '88, The Supersuckers aim was to strip away some of the pretense of late '80's Heavy Metal and put a little showmanship into the Punk scene. It was a tightrope act few bands could achieve but, by the beginning of '89, not only had the band done it, they were ready to make a move away from the dirt roads, dead ends and dust of their hometown.
Heads was New Orleans, tails Seattle.
Tails.
And, in May of 1989, off they went.
Having no clue that Seattle was about to become "Rock City, U.S.A." for a few great years, Eddie and his grimy gang jumped blindly into a scene that had been thriving unrecognized for years. It didn't take long however for them to find Seattle to be the perfect place to "not fit in".
The Supersuckers put out a few singles, then signed to Sub-Pop and began what has been over two decades of ass kicking, ground pounding hemi-hogging punk-n-roll.
It didn't take too long, however, for the country music that he tried so hard to avoid in his youth to start surfacing in the music Eddie was making as a young man. The foray back to the country began in 1993 with the Supersuckers side project, The Junkyard Dogs and the rare, hard to find and out of print recording, "Good Livin' Platter" (Sympathy For The Record Industry). It wasn't county per-se, but it was close and the seed was planted.

Eddie Spaghetti - The Value of Nothing
Record Label: Bloodshot
Release Date: June 18, 2013
If Johnny Cash were still alive, there's a strong possibility he'd buy Eddie Spaghetti's new album The Value of Nothing. Known to many as the frontman/bassist for Seattle's unpredictable yet ultra-consistent The Supersuckers, The Value of Nothing is the follow up to 2011's Sundowners. Recorded in Austin with Jesse Dayton (Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings) this 10-song effort is equal parts humorous, histrionic and heady.
The titular track and lead single is a rustic ass-kicker with ample amounts of sweat and grit. The defeated and brawny "Empty," is a hip-shaking saloon song with a punchy chorus and enough Seattle swagger to make Pete Carroll blush. One of the album's more accessible efforts, "Empty" is proof positive that Spaghetti knows his way around a hook. The jangly and buoyant "if Anyone's Got the Balls" is a quasi spoken-word effort that is much a testament to intestinal fortitude as it is an engaging and amiable roots-pop ditty. The disc's first half closes out with "Waste of Time" and "You Get To Be My Age."
The former is another quasi spoken-word effort about taking initiative (or lack thereof) and one of the album's best. Comfortable, confident and without pretense, "Waste of Time" is exactly why Eddie Spaghetti is so beloved across this fine continent. The latter is a sun-drenched valentine that scorches like the Texas sun and reaffirms Jesse Dayton's palm print on this body of work.
On the second half, Spaghetti rambles along with the hyper albeit profane "F$@%@% My Head." The accordion-drenched flavored "People are S$@^," once again reaffirms Spaghetti's penchant for cussing but does so to a bubbly and fizzy slice of Cajun zydeco pop. If every disc has an apex, then the closing triumvirate of "One Man Job," "When I Go I'm Gone" and the rousing singalong "I've Got a Secret" are those apex moments. The former is spartan and simple and finds Spaghetti carving out a homespun and air-tight tonic to domesticity. Ostensibly a duet with Jesse Dayton, "One Man Job" it once again revisits Spaghetti's love of spoken word material. "I've Got a Secret" is easily the disc's most indelible singalong and has all the hip-shaking, beer-swilling bustle that make The Supersuckers such a draw.
But it is the closing "When I Go I'm Gone" that really makes the biggest impact of any song on The Value of Nothing. A straightforward and by-the-book three minute gem, the song carries an understated reverence and honesty that makes it worth revisiting. While the album is far from perfect, there are moments of brilliance and compassion sliding through the cracks and those moments are what make The Value of Nothing worth the listen.