As frontman of the Meat Puppets back in the mid 1980s, Curt Kirkwood blew minds marrying hardcore punk rock to sunbaked country music. Arizona natives recording for SST, singer/guitarist Kirkwood, his bassist brother Cris, and drummer Derrick Bostrom just figured the combination made sense. Curt has toured a bit under his own name since releasing a so-so album with a reconfigured version of the Puppets in 2000. But Snow is his first solo album, and it’s as plainly likable as the Puppets’ early stuff was freaky. (It’s also a big improvement over the dull 2002 CD by Eyes Adrift, a short-lived supertrio Kirkwood formed with Sublime’s Bud Gaugh and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana.) The mode here is relaxed country rock, tuneful and shuffling and only slightly touched by the singer’s acid-casualty whimsy. And producer Pete Anderson, who’s best known for his work with Dwight Yoakam, was a great choice, since it seems he convinced Kirkwood that the former punk-rocker would make a great Southwestern balladeer.
Curt Kirkwood | Paradise Lounge, 969 Comm Ave, Boston | Jan 17 | 617.562.8814
