Outskirts of Country Blog

Rockets for the 4th

Rick Teverbaugh  |  July 1, 2009

One of the major perks of working in the journalism side of the music business is getting to hear albums before their release. It falls under the category of getting to open Christmas presents early without getting in trouble.

So there was just a bit of excitement this week when Bloodshot Records sent a review copy of the new Bottle Rockets release Lean Forward. I will admit that it has only had a couple of spins in the player thus far but the impressions have been favorable. As a Hoosier it has even given me reason to forgive the band for Indianapolis from the 24 Hours a Day disc. These dozen songs have been produced by Eric Ambel, who also helmed the previously mentioned release. This is a high-energy release. The opening cut, The Long Way, reminds me a bit of Uncle Tupelo's The Long Cut. I will be covering this in more detail for Country Standard Time in the next week or so but all signs right now point to a favorable verdict.