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ROCK AND ROLL SURVIVOR JOE GRUSHECKY

 BY REV. KEITH A GORDON

 

Joe Grushecky is a true rock 'n' roll survivor, the talented singer, songwriter, and guitarist first bursting onto the scene in 1979 with his band the Iron City Houserockers and their critically-acclaimed debut album, Love's So Tough. By the time the band released a follow-up in 1980's Have A Good Time But Get Out Alive, Grushecky had sharpened his songwriting skills to a razor's edge, and his intelligent blue-collar anthems mixed muscular, guitar-driven rock with elements of blues and soul like nobody before or since.

 

After two more albums that earned great reviews but sold few copies, the Iron City Houserockers called it a day. Grushecky, a Pittsburgh native, returned home to Steeltown and resumed his day job as a teacher working with at-risk youth, a position that he has pretty much held ever since. He stayed out of music for the better part of a decade, returning with a new band - Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers - which included his old ICH bandmate Art Nardini on bass, and released the acclaimedSwimming With The Sharks album.

 

Twenty years and eight albums later, Joe Grushecky is still rocking at an age where many musicians have retired and started collecting social security checks. He hasn't had a label deal in 15 years, Grushecky and his long-time manager and his compatriots the Houserockers going it on their own, braving the tidal changes that have assaulted the music industry by rocking harder. Through the years, Grushecky has continued to hone his craft as a songwriter, and if fame and fortune have eluded him, he remains committed to music as a powerful creative force. Meeting him in 1995, and asking why a 50-year-old man would give up his job to hit the road with a band (for his American Babylon album), Grushecky simply smiled and said, "it's rock 'n' roll, man, it's rock 'n' roll...."

 

East Carson Street is Grushecky's first album since 2006's A Good Life, and his first with long-time band the Houserockers in six years. After venturing out on his own for an album, what did Grushecky want to accomplish with East Carson Street? "I wanted to have a really good band record," says Grushecky. "I approach every record the same, try to make it the best record that I can at that particular time. I got lucky this time because I'd been on a hot streak writing, and it was a very relaxed record to do."

 

Grushecky also took a different tack in the recording of this album, which is also the first in years to feature a new band line-up. "We took our time and worked on it, and were under no pressure to deliver it," he says. "I wanted a record to showcase the talent of the band, especially since we'd gone through our first personnel changes in a while. We lost three guys and brought two guys in, my son being one of them." Gone are guitarist Billy Toms, percussionist Bernie Herr, and harmonica player Marc Reisman, who also dated back to the Iron City Houserockers days. The addition of guitarists Johnny Grushecky and Danny Gochnour has brought an even heavier rock 'n' roll sound to Grushecky's songs.**********

MARCH  26 2010 CONTINUED AT

http://www.blurt-online.com/features/view/586/

 

 

 

 

East Carson Review: Blurt-Online
By Rev Keith A. Gordon

The 1970s gave rise to a sub-sub-genre of rock 'n' roll known as "Rust Belt" or "Heartland rock." Street-smart and lyrically savvy, the style welded the garage-rock and soul music of the previous decade with a harder edge to create a sort of "working class blues." Bruce Springsteen is, perhaps, the most critically-acclaimed and commercially successful troubadour of this poor's boy's symphony, with Bob Seger, John Mellencamp, and others bringing up the rear guard.

Rust Belt rock has long since become passé...Bruce, bless his soul, is a multi-gajillionaire who, no matter how hard he tries, has lost his affinity with us po' folk. Seger has retired to a ranch somewhere on the outer fringes of the apocalyptic urban wasteland once known as Detroit, Johnny boy has sold his soul to the man, and other practitioners of this antique brand of rock have long since disappeared due to commercial indifference, or discovered house music, or something...except for Pittsburgh's Joe Grushecky.

As far as Rust Belt rock goes, Grushecky is the last man standing, and as shown by his latest, East Carson Street, Joey G. ain't giving up an inch to history, either. His first album with long-time band the Houserockers since 2004, East Carson Street features Grushecky's typical lyrical acumen, his whip-smart story-songs accompanied by unbridled, guitar-driven music that isn't afraid to rawk when the situation calls for it.

Also as usual, the material on East Carson Street is semi-biographical and partially observational, and easily recognizable to anybody that has actually worked for a living. The homespun homilies of the album-opening "Chasing Shadows" ("slow down and enjoy it, life ain't a race", "don't waste your time chasing shadows") take on gargantuan importance when mixed with piercing guitars, crashing drumbeats, and Grushecky's wonderfully gravel-throated vocals. The scorching fretwork opening "It's Too Late (Can't Turn Back Now)" lays the groundwork for the song's insightful, introspective lyrics, keyboards chiming urgently as guitars pile up notes like cars on the freeway.

The mid-tempo folk-rock of the title track does Johnny Mellencamp and his "Small Town" one better, Grushecky musing on the importance of friends and family, the price of fame too high a toll if it means giving up life on "East Carson Street." It's a lovely song, a great sentiment, and a quietly defiant statement against the myth that one has to discard the past if they want to find the future. Grushecky's old pal and songwriting partner Bruce Springsteen drops by for the anthemic rocker "Another Thin Line," the song featuring three? four? guitars ringing clearly between the shared vocals, the song itself another positivist plea for faith in an often cold world.

It's another song collaboration on East Carson Street, however, that stands out, Grushecky and fellow Steel City songwriter Bill Deasy penning the excellent folk-rock dirge "Broken Wheel." With alternating vocals and menacing guitar strum, the song tells of a man at odds with himself, possibly on the run from the law, a man with no apparent way of surviving the ordeal. It's a haunting song with an old west feel and a rock 'n' roll vibe that puts all of those wussy indie-rock scribes to shame.

Grushecky's "The Sun Is Going To Shine Again" is a classic Rust Belt rocker in the vein of his earlier Iron City Houserockers band, a bright tale of love conquering the brutalities that life often brings...the job, the bills, all the petty little injustices that fade away when you have somebody to share them with you, beat 'em down and render them meaningless. Joined by fellow rocker Willie Nile on vocals, the song is an encouraging reminder of the good things in life. "Down River" is an honest look at mortality by the veteran rocker, who has probably lost more friends by now than he cares to remember. The song's beautiful lyrics are sung with reverence by Grushecky against a gentle rolling soundtrack that creates an elegant emotional atmosphere.

Better than 30 years since the Iron City Houserockers hit the scene with their excellent debut album Love's So Tough, and nearly 40 since Grushecky first played with the Brick Alley Band, the man still rocks with an energy and commitment that boys half his age can't muster. While the addition of his 20-something-year-old son Johnny has certainly brought a youthful vigor to the Houserockers band, the truth is that Joe Grushecky has been following the siren's call of rock 'n' roll for most of his life, and he isn't about to give up now. East Carson Street shows that, while Grushecky may not have found the fountain of youth, unlike almost all of his contemporaries, neither has he forgotten the sheer joy of making music.

East Carson Street *** 1/2
By Nick Cristiano

A cold day, ain't no sun/ No use complaining, got to get the job done," Joe Grushecky sings, along with his cowriter, Bruce Springsteen, on "Another Thin Line." It's quintessential Grushecky: tough, and tough-minded, rock from Pittsburgh's finest. His passion for the music continues to burn bright - even if it has never brought him near the level of stardom of his sometimes collaborator, and he still needs to work a day job (as a special-ed teacher).

On East Carson Street, Grushecky explores familiar territory, chronicling life's everyday struggles and simple pleasures, and his aim remains unerringly true. The Houserockers, meanwhile, now including his son, Johnny, on guitar, provide loads of rock-and-roll muscle.

"Changing Shadows" offers sage life advice from someone well-equipped to give it; the title song, a ballad, expresses home-time pride and the nurturing power of roots; "Lee Ann" declares love for his wife amid candid admissions of his own shortcomings; and "The Sun Is Going to Shine Again" gives voice to the undying spirit that is at the heart of everything on this stirring album.