We tried to catch JJ and the Hustlers at a recent gig at Boggs Social and Supply, only to arrive as they were loading out. However, we got to hang out with the band after, during which JJ asked if I would review their new album, Burned on the Grill. I’d gotten a copy a while back and put it on top of my “vinyl records to listen to” heap and promptly stopped listening to vinyl for… entirely too long.
The Hustler’s previous record, Favorite Places, has some great tunes on it. I love it when Bloody Mary Moustache pops up on ye olde iPod shuffle. But that iPod is the reason I hadn’t spun up a physical record in a while.
Burned on the Grill should’ve been on the turntable as soon as I got it home. Them honkies can tonk. Things kick off with Office Job, a Dylan-by-way-of-Woody-Guthrie working man’s blues lament about life in a windowless cube. Then comes some boogie with Riverbend, and the record gradually bends genres from there. Harmonica, fiddle and organ jump in beside a crunchy guitar that wouldn’t be out of place on a 1970s, possibly Southern, rock record. A couple of tunes might even work in a set by JJ’s (former?) hard rock group El Caminos, but most of the songs lean a bit more country. Fortunately, most of the tears shed crying in beer are at least sentimental, sometimes outright joyful.
The production and mix are so clear that even on my cheap, portable record player it sounds great. You can also stream it on Spotify.
