Stagger strides confidently with his latest collection
Love Versus Leeroy Stagger True North Records out of five
Full confession — after the first few seconds of this I thought, ugh, not another hot folk (as in hot country) song with a lot of lah-lah-lah-ing by a man with the compulsory beard and hat.
And, yeah, you can certainly hear the fact that Lethbridge’s Leeroy Stagger went through the Peak Performance band Olympics for the win, the contest where musicians were advised by marketers from Toronto to make high-energy, positive songs if they want a hit.
And yet, I Want It All quickly says “goddamn,” then turns out to be a great song — including a not-so-subtle dig at a certain orange monster making the whole world worse every day.
But the whole album is in turns dark, curious, sometimes even a little bit evil in that “yo, Beth, what can I do?” sense. Actually, it’s a wonderful work of art.
Crisply produced folk-rock with shades of, you name it, Wilco, Calexico, the Beatles and Elliott Smith, Stagger’s main starting point is a position of tension, be it with the road, his own expectations, losing the punk ethos or being an adult, period.
The album really starts gnashing in Enemy Inside, a perfect song into which one might jettison for a while after a relationship’s nuclear meltdown.
Crooked Old World would fit into Steve Earle’s pre-bluegrass canon snugly, Joel Plaskett showing up in the role of a Bob Dylan for a nice little duet.
Little Brother is why I brought up Calexico, with some Nick Cave sauce picked up at a gas station on the lost highway.
Run Rabbit Run is an interesting song split in two, the masculine and feminine, including the schoolyard taunt: “Pecos Charlie swimming in his shirt, standing around with his dick in the dirt.”
Love the writing all over: Mornings come too late or just on time; bullets are stopped while others float right through the singer like he’s a ghost.
The legacy of Joe Strummer and Joey Ramone gets a complicated, raucous nod — was any of it real?
Stagger’s writing is brave, his songs tough, lovely and honest.
And if the album isn’t enough for you, his eight-part Dirty Windshields radio show — Fridays at 8 p.m. on CKUA — runs though April 28.
He’s playing the wrap party for the station’s Touch the Transmitter Tour wrap at 6 p.m. on Friday at the station, if you happened to get tickets.
If not, phone around your local record stores or, of course, there’s always the endlessly thirsty Internet.
Stagger, you walk with confidence and direction.