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.

Joe Grushecky changes locations and adds new twists to latest CD
By Scott Mervis, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

With a recession, two wars and a new president, we might have expected Joe Grushecky to weigh in on current events from the Average Joe's point of view, as he's done so eloquently in the past, but he takes a different course on his new album, "East Carson Street."

"I am personally on overkill with all the political stuff," he says. "I wanted to write about personal things this time. I wrote some scathing songs just to get them out of my system, but the songs we used on the CD were much better."

The follow-up to 2006's "A Good Life" is a collection of songs with a familiar ring for Houserockers fans -- there are gritty bar-rockers, a family ballad or two and another meeting with good friend Bruce Springsteen -- but he adds a few new twists like his first duet with Bill Deasy and a Nashville-inflected departure aided by Big Kenny Alphin of Big & Rich.


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