DaviD BaRBE

10th Of Seas 8/10

A fixture on the Athens, Georgia, music scene since the 1980s, David Barbe is best known as a producer for the Drive-By Truckers, Deerhunter and other local and national acts. 10th Of Seas is only his third solo album, yet it’s a confidently varied and vivid effort: “Why You Gotta Make It So Hard?” recalls the weirdo pop of the Elephant 6 collective, while “We’re All Here” revives the distressed college rock of the city’s defining documentary, 1987’s Inside/ Out. Drawing from every corner of Athens lore, Barbe crafts a ragged strain of Southern rock that is both idiosyncratic and deeply civic-minded.